MechWarrior:ShadowCompany
by G Fox
Summary: This is an alternate universe story, were their are inteligent races other than humans. the time frame is near the end of the Clan invasion. this is rated T for violence, cursing, and mild sexual references. Keep in mind I am new so please R&R, but no fla
1. Chapter 1

MechWarrior: Shadow Company

Rated T for violence, cursing, and mild sexual references

This is the story of the most feared and honorable Mercenary Company in all existence. It started with one man, named Geoffrey Freedman…

Chapter ONE

"Hey Geoff!"

Tech Officer Geoffrey Freedman was asleep on a scaffold again while he was "off duty". That was just a fancy way of saying "get a shower and take a nap" when it came to this job. So when he heard his name being called he bolted upright and yelled "What is it _this_ time!"

"We just got a call for an assist in salvage." His buddy called.

His buddy was another Tech Officer by the name of Samuel Williams. He was 5'9" with brown eyes matching his brown hair. He was large, but not fat. Many people joked that he looked like a midget Elemental.

At that Geoffrey got interested. "How many Mechs down?" he asked, as he ran down the stairs.

"At least ten, though I bet there won't be that many left for us."

"Probably right" Even as he said that, had started up his personal recovery vehicle, and begun to race out of the dropship, towards the battlefield, followed by leaping _gnome battle armor _that served as on mission security.

(Of course, the only reason they're out here is because I am.) He thought to himself. (I guess being the best our forces have does have its perks.) He smiled at the thought.

Tech Officer Freedman was the best there was, when it came to fixing Mechs and weapons. (I would have been a Mech _pilot_, if my species didn't have all this fur!) At that thought he sighed.

Geoffrey was a member of the vulpine-fox- race. He was 6'4" with eyes that looked like the color of pure gold. Red and white fur covered his body from head to toe-including a fox tail- as well as a yellowish blond where regular hair would be. He also had black tips on his ears.

He was pondering why they couldn't make a Mech specially designed for vulpines when he noticed he was getting a message. "…ou got that Foxtrot?" He silently cursed as he picked up the radio.

"Sorry Captain, I didn't get all that." Then he heard her groan.

"Foxtrot, how many times do I have to tell you 'stop dreaming about being a MechWarrior'?"

"I don't know, until I get to be one."

"Hahaha… Foxtrot, I'll say it one more time. We're gettin' reports of surviving infantry still out there… you hear it this time?"

"Yes, sir.-Naval tradition states you say sir to a navel officer despite their gender. - It's a good thing I brought my rifle and these tin heads."

"Aye, more like I assigned those 'tin heads' to be your guards. You know I can't afford to lose you."

"Glad to hear it Captain. Sorry Cap, I gatta go, just found a new toy out here."

"Alright get at it and have one of those crawlers bring it back."

"You got it Cap." With that, he switched to his "guardians" channel and said. "Alright boys, I'm stopping here so give me some cover."

"Sir, yes sir!"

He sighed, (God I hate formality) then grabbed his rifle and jumped the ten feet to the ground, using his vulpine abilities to keep from getting hurt. Then he walked over to the downed Mech and got a big surprise. Lying there, completely untouched was a Salvage Mech MOD.

"Holy Shit!"

A trooper landed next to him with his Heavy Pulse Rifle at the ready. "Are you alright sir?"

Geoff just blinked a couple of times to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Then deciding he wasn't, he answered. "Damn straight I'm all right. Hey, I got an order for ya. Find me a way into that Mech's cockpit."

"Uh… yes sir." The trooper jumped over the Mech, looking for the hatch. As he went about his search, Geoff called in the find.

"Captain Roberts here. What's up Foxtrot?"

"Well I have some good news for me _and_ you Capn. And before you ask, I am standing in front of _my_ brand new Salvage Mech MOD."

Captain Roberts sat there for a second before responding. "Did you just say a 'Salvage Mech MOD'?"

"Yes sir I did."

"What condition is it in?

"Hold a sec… okay I'm back. Looks like a sniper took the pilot in the head, so everything's good to go. Oh! Just let every one know my location so they don't come to kill me."

"Alright. Attention all personnel, Foxtrot has gained a fully functional Salvage Mech MOD. Sending location, so don't kill him when he brings it online." A chorus of Ayes followed, and then it started.

Geoffrey got in through the small opening known as the entrance. Then he unhooked the old pilot and tossed him out the hatch. He frowned when he realized that the neuro helmet was built for humans. He sat down and thought. Then he remembered that his helmet was designed for just this situation.

He took off his helmet and gently removed the old neuro helmet, replacing it with his own. He connected everything, put the helmet back on, and fired up the engine.

The effect was astounding. He had expected it to have a reactor, but it didn't, so with the start of the engine came a soft yelp. Fortunately Geoff didn't have his radio on so no one heard. After the initial pain, Geoff started to move the Mech into a standing position.

Meanwhile, outside the trooper Sarge checked in. "Captain, we have a small problem."

"What is it now, Sergeant?"

"Sir, the salvage Mech is an I.C.E."

"Well, that's not a problem, we just happen to have an extra light reactor; Geoff salvaged last op. Is that all Sergeant?"

"Sir, yes sir!"

After about two hours of work Geoffrey got a message from Captain Roberts. "Foxtrot, get back to the dropship, A.S.A.P.!"

He keyed the radio as he started towards the dropship. "What's the sit rep, Cap?"

"We got multiple dropships inbound."

"Affirmative… wait, I got something." Just then, he realized he still had his Mech's radio tuned to the enemy channel.

"What do you mean 'he is here'?"

"I do not know, sir. All we know is that one survivor said he saw a vulpine in a Tech Officer's uniform. He also said that he saw him get into, and power up a Salvage Mech MOD."

"_WHAT?_ Quick, change the frequency!" After that all Geoff heard was static.

Geoff called in what he heard. "Well they're definitely Clan."

"Aye, but which one?"

"Who the _hell_ cares!"

Geoff secured his new toy in a Mech bay as ordered by another Tech Officer. "Captain, I'm docked, now what?"

"Hold on, that's what."

(What!) Just then the alarms started blaring, and the gantry began rising up to seal the ship for space travel. A couple of seconds later, and Geoffrey felt the engines ignite underneath him.

The weird thing was, the Captain was burning hard, with the engines at full thrust, putting at least three gees on everyone on board. Normally the Captain wouldn't do this but they were running from multiple Clan dropships. As soon as they went into microgravity, Geoff got out of his Mech, and floated down, to see what the others had salvaged.

It was a pretty good haul. He had gotten two Mechs and a lot of weapons. Samuel had been able to get some new vehicles and some more weapons. Tech Officer Alexis VonHammer- yes I know, the last name sucks- was as good with vehicles as Geoff was with Mechs, and, as usual, she had salvaged nothing but vehicles.

Alexis was another vulpine and, aside from the usual 'Male-Female' differences, she looked exactly like Geoffrey. The only other difference was their height. She was 5'9". A little short for a vulpine, but it didn't mess with her job so no one commented. There were, however, rumors of the two foxes dating, but those were just rumors.

Samuel had gotten a _kellswa_ and a _gloryfire _support tank, along with multiple missiles and Autocannons.

Alexis had gotten three _SRM launchers_, a pair of _vedities_, and another _kellswa._

Geoff on the other hand, had salvaged an _awesome_ and a _griffin_, along with enough weapons to arm them.

After he had counted and written down the new "toys", he gave his report to the head Tech Officer and went to take a nap. After he lay down he tallied the new force's strength. (Let's see, two and a half lances of Mechs, another three lances of vehicles, and five squads of battle armor.)

As he was about to fall asleep, his radio came on. "Geoffrey! Where the Hell are you!"

"Damn!" But then he answered. "I'm in my room,_ trying_ to get some sleep!"

"Well, get your furry tail up to the control room A.S.A.P.! The Captain wants to talk."

He sighed. (I guess I won't be getting any sleep now.) but out loud he said "Alright, alright. I'm on my way." He got out of bed and ran a clawed hand through his mussed up fur to get it in order. Then he walked out of his room, and went to the control room.

As soon as he walked in he saw something he had never seen before. The entire room was close to panic. People were running around, shouting orders at people through the mics.

Then the Captain came over and stood in front of him. "Soooo… the furball arrives."

"Urrrrg… will you stop calling me that?"

"No. Now, on to business. We are being chased by a bunch of light aerospace fighters. The dropship guns can't take them all down, and since you're the only person left on this ship with some fighter training, I want you to take our last fighter and take out what's left."

"And how many are left?"

"Only five, all Nightshades."

"And why aren't they dead yet."

"They're in the dropship's blind spot."

"Yes, Sir!" Geoff saluted and ran off down the hall towards the hanger that the fighters were stored in.

When he got there, the fighter techs were all double checking the fighter. (Another good thing about being vulpine is I don't have to wear those ridiculous pressure suits.) As he walked up to the fighter the techs saluted.

(Even though I technically don't out rank them they still honor me.)

With that thought, Geoffrey jumped into the cockpit and strapped on his helmet. This helmet was a less advanced version of a Mech neuro helmet. As soon as that was done, he started the reactor and shut the canopy, sealing it to fly in space.

After that the alarms started ringing and an automated voice came over the speakers. "Attention. Air lock pressurizing. Evacuate the airlock." No sooner had the last man got out of the air lock when the hanger doors opened.

Geoffrey launched as soon as the _omni wing_ aerospace fighter had enough room.

As soon as he was out he turned on a dime and sped towards the dropship's blind spot.

This spot was basically where the engine exhaust disappeared. As soon as he had cleared the ship he fired off his PPC, barely missing one of the _nightshades_.

However, the shot startled the pilot so much that he jerked his fighter to the right and crashed into another, sending them both into a spin that would ultimately end in their doom.

The three remaining fighters formed up on their leader and turned to face the fox. Geoff managed to get his two ER large pulse lasers to each target a follower. He fired as soon as they were locked on, sending two lasers to impact and destroy the tail end of the targets, which was where the reactor apparently was, as the two fighters rear ends soon got very hot.

The leader was able to get a shot out with his SRM, sending two missiles racing at the fox. Geoff, on the other hand, just tracked his target, ignoring the oncoming missiles.

As his PPC recycled he acknowledged it by firing. The super charged particles sped out of the nose gun and impacted its target right in the cockpit, killing the pilot instantly.

Even though the launcher had been destroyed, the missiles kept their lock, and only at the last second did he pull up, breaking the missiles' lock and sending them into space.

With his mission complete, Geoffrey returned to the air lock. Once it was finished pressurizing, Geoffrey opened the canopy to the sound of clapping. Confused, he jumped down and was immediately surrounded by the jet techs.

All of them were clapping and smiling.

Then the head jet tech walked through the crowd and up to him. When he stopped, everyone stopped clapping as he spoke. "Well… I ain't seen flyin' like that before in my whole life. So tell me, why didn't you become a full-fledged fighter pilot?"

"Well, I like Mechs."

"A good reason. Stick with what you like." Just as he said that, the speakers came on.

"Tech Officer Freedman, report to the Bridge, Tech Officer Freedman, report to the Bridge."

"Well, looks like you gatta go."

"Looks like it. Though I'll see ya around." With that said he made his way through the circle of jet techs towards the door. As he went towards the Bridge, it seemed as though everyone on board had seen his little duel with the five Clanners.

(Though I can't blame them for watching the battle that might determine their lives.) He thought to himself in the elevator.

Soon the doors opened and he walked down the hall towards the Bridge. As soon as he walked in people again started clapping, including the Captain!

Now, he was embarrassed, and he had to consciously keep his tail from going straight down.

But then the Captain motioned for everyone to be quiet. They did and the Captain spoke. "Very well done Geoffrey! I've never seen someone take on five Clanners, win, and not even get a scratch on their fighter. Just for that, I'm going to promote you to backup pilot. Just in case we need that kind of help again."

At that, the fox assumed attention and nearly shouted, "Sir! Thank you, Sir!"

"As you were, and you don't need to be that formal."

Geoffrey went to parade rest before she continued. "Now then, that technically means you have two jobs, so I'll make sure you get paid for both."

That surprised Geoffrey so much he nearly left parade rest. But after a few seconds he responded.

"Thank you, sir."

"Good. Now, let's see about getting a ride to Terra for this 'Operation Last Stand'."

End Chapter One


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: forgot first chapter so here it is now! I don't own MechWarrior or any other references to other games.

Chapter TWO

Geoffrey was writing his daily report in almost complete darkness. (Bad thing about being able to see in the dark is I don't have the excuse 'the lights were off')

In the back of his mind he acknowledged the fact that someone was walking down the corridor. When they stopped he consciously acknowledged them by looking at the door. When it opened he relaxed, as the person on the other side was Captain Roberts.

"Good… whatever it is, Captain." He said as he stood and saluted.

"As you were." She said in a casual tone that made Geoffrey think she had expected him to do that. He relaxed and went back to his report. What she said next shocked him. "I know your vulpine name." He merely stopped typing and looked at her. "Your vulpine name is 'Prince Fox McCloud', heir to the McCloud Empire."

He sighed. "I knew somebody would find out sooner or later… how did you…?"

She handed him a vid disk and said "We got an HPG transmission from the current emperor to a 'Fox McCloud'. You're the only vulpine on this ship whose vulpine name I don't know. Simple deduction." She turned towards the door and stopped. "I suggest you lock this door when I leave… the Comm. techs might want to listen." Then she left and closed the door.

Geoff took her advice and locked the door. Then he minimized his report and activated the vid mode. What he saw next surprised him

-Yes, I did get the idea for this message from Vengeance-

His father's face appeared on the screen and started the message. "My son, I have often regretted sending you away with Clan Wolf. Many times I have wished the war over and you home. But now there is no chance of these wishes coming true. Because I stood against the Clans when they betrayed their promise of peace to the vulpine… our world is to be made an example to the rest of the empire. Clan Wolf is seizing Vulparia. They have already entered the atmosphere and are beginning their march towards the Palace. By the time you receive this message, I'm sure that we'll all be dead… your mother, sisters, and me. You are now the emperor. I have sent the Royal Navy's flagship, the VSS-Vulpine Star Ship- Great Fox. She will arrive at Terra in a few weeks. Fox… we are of peaceful nature, but this atrocity must be met with equal force. I have followed your deeds in your past ops, and you have made me very, very proud to be your father… goodbye." Only static followed.

Geoffrey shut off the computer, cutting off all light to the room. He sat there for what seemed like hours, thinking of what this meant. But one thought kept coming back. (They're gone…)

He went over to his bed and lay down. Soon he started to cry. Outside he may have seemed strong, but inside, the death of his family had broken his resolve. He cried himself to sleep that night.

He awoke like he normally did, but this time, he had a fire in his eyes. A fire seen only in a person with a mission in life, and his mission was to fulfill his father's last wish, and he would fight to the death to complete it.

The rest of the day went on as usual. Fix this, fix that, spar.-yes spar- Until lunch.

Geoffrey sat at the first empty table he came to, and ate his lunch quietly. That is, until Sam came over and sat down. Geoff looked at him out of the corner of his eye, but then went back to his lunch.

After a while Sam finally spoke. "Ok, that's it! What is wrong with you! You haven't said anything all day!"

"I just don't feel up to talking right now."

"Ok. Why not?"

Even though he wasn't vulpine, Sam still heard a slight growl when Geoff responded. "I got a message from my father, I'm sure you'll hear about it sooner or later."

"What?" Then the speakers came on.

"Attention all personnel. We have a royal on board we've had him since the start of this war…" Geoffrey sighed. "… his human name is Geoffrey Freedman, a.k.a. Prince Fox McCloud of the McCloud Empire."

"Told ya." Was all he said, as everyone there looked at him. Then he turned around and said "Yup, it's true. My vulpine name is Fox McCloud."-From now on I will be calling him Fox-

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed some of the other vulpine start to kneel. "Please, don't kneel. I may be the prince but I don't like the formality."

The ones kneeling stood up. The rest of lunch went on as usual. The two talked about technical stuff, until.

"So, what is this 'Operation Last Stand'?"

Fox just shrugged and swallowed. "I don't know. All I know is what it's called."

"Well you're the genius, take a guess."

Again Fox swallowed and said "Well, if I had to guess, I'd say it means all remaining forces are gathering on Terra for a final defense against the Clans."

"Well gee, I could have told you that."

This new voice startled the two friends, but they relaxed when they saw it was only Alexis. "You two mind if I joined you?" She said, even as she sat down next to them.

It was Sam who reacted first. "Not at all." The three sat their eating and talking until lunch was over.

"Well, that was horrible."

"Sam, you say that every single time you eat."

"True, but at least I didn't have my tail stepped on."

"Will you _shut up_?"

Just as Sam was about to say something else the speakers came to life. "Attention all personnel. Attention all personnel. Report to the crew briefing room immediately."

"Well, maybe we're about to find out if you're right."

"Hopefully Sam, hopefully."

Ten minutes later everyone had shown up at the briefing room.

About a minute later the Captain walked up to the head of the table and cleared her throat. "All right everybody, listen up!" Then she activated the hologram projector, showing the planet of Terra. She set it to change with what she said. "Aright, this is Operation: Last Stand. Here's the basic Op. All the forces loyal to the Republic have gathered on Terra, in particular the Capital, for a final defense of the planet. The dropships have been stationed around the Palace for an 'absolute' final defense of the Emperor. All warships are stationed above the Capital to prevent bombardment and having dropships dropped on our heads. Now, most vehicles will be sent to harass the Clanners at their drop zones. All transports will remain with the dropships. All infantry will also remain with the dropships to prevent them from being boarded. Mechs will remain close to the dropships to rely on their power in case of trouble. Repair units will stay behind the line of dropships, so head their way if you need some repairs. Also, if you're critical then don't be afraid to retreat to the _Kitsune_."

"If multiple dropships get blown, we have been assigned the honor of evacuating the royal family off planet, so get the Hell back here ASAP. That's all I've got to say, so any questions?"

One MechWarrior raised his hand. The Captain acknowledged him and he stood, revealing him to be Corporal Collins. "What about air support and arty?"

The Captain smiled at the question and took a second to respond. "Well, that's a problem. No one really has any arty at the moment… but we've got plenty of air support in the form of Vtols, spherical fighters, and aerospace fighters."

That got everyone's attention. Then another hand raised and was acknowledged. "What kind of Warships have we got in orbit?"

Now her smile widened. "We got plenty of those too. Let's see here… we have a dozen _Corvettes_, six _Destroyers_, six _Cruisers_, two pairs of _Carriers_, and two full blown _Battleships_.

Several people whistled in appreciation.

Then she continued. "Now, do you have any more questions?"

No one else raised their hand. "Good, now get ready for planet fall."

Even as she said this, people got up and made their way towards the door.

When he was halfway to the door, Fox heard his name being called. When he turned around, he saw that it had been Captain Roberts who had called him.

He quickly walked over to her and saluted.

"Cut the formality Sergeant." When she saw his face, she smiled.

"But Captain, I'm just a Tech Officer." He said with a very confused look.

"No, your not and you never were. Do I need to remind you of your name?" When he shook his head she continued. "And as such, you are a MechWarrior. So I had to give you a rank. We reconfigured that Griffin you salvaged into a ballistic based Mech. It's got a Clan Gauss Rifle and a Clan LRM 10 so watch your ammo. We took the extra weight into some of those new Double heat sinks and added some more armor. And guess what… you get to be a Lance Commander."

This revelation startled the fox but he didn't show it. "I get to be a Lance Commander?"

She smiled before responding. "Aye, that you do. And here's who you have for Lance mates: Corporal Culwell in a salvaged _Royoken_, Corporal Lee or Nekonin in a salvaged _Gyrfalcon_, and Corporal Herald in a _LAN_.

Now Geoffrey smiled, and said. "Thank you very much, Captain."

-One it's very rare that he smiles, two when he does people get scared (must be the sharp teeth) -

"Don't thank me, its just protocol for royals; also if you prove yourself, then they might promote you to master sergeant."

"Well, thank you anyway. So when do I get to meet my new lance?"

"As soon as we land, and get that _Awesome_ out of Mech bay three. One thing you need to know about Corporal Herald though. Word on the street is that he is some sort of super human."

"Why is that?" Geoffrey asked completely perplexed.

The Captain sort-of whispered, "Well he stands at 6'2'' kinda tall for a human and he's a master pilot of a transformable mech. Also he's 27 but he looks like he's 17 or 18 and people have seen him fall 7 feet and come away completely unharmed."

Geoffrey had no time to speak because after she had finished the speakers came on. "Attention, prepare to enter the atmosphere."

As the computer finished that announcement, the two occupants in the briefing room took seats and strapped in for the trip planet side.

End Chapter Two

Okay, why hasn't anybody reviewed! Just click the little button down there! And here's the quotes for the first two chapters.

"_Life is like a field of fallen snow, be careful were you tread, for every step will show"_ that's the first chapy. Quoted by my 10th grade English teacher! YAY miss Stidger!

"_True greatness, is not what you do while others are watching, but what you do when they are not, and no reward is given." Quoted in a Star Fox FF. I can't find again._


	3. Chapter 3

**MechWarrior: Shadow Company**

**Chapter three**

Damn! I don't want to say the disclaimer! Fine, I don't own anything in this story, cept the plot.

"Attention. Attention. We are on the ground. Sergeant Freedman, please report to your mech." At that the fox unbuckled from his seat and saluted the Captain.

"Alright, foxy, get to your Mech ASAP."

"I'm on it, sir." He then bolted out of the briefing room.

As the door closed behind him the Captain started to chuckle. "Ohhhhh boy. He is way too excited about being in a mech." After waiting a few minutes, she got out of her seat and went up to the bridge.

Meanwhile Geoffrey was waiting in the elevator on his way down to Mech bay three. (Damn, why can't these things go any faster?) Immediately the doors started to open. (Finally) When he was able to fit through he quickly walked out into the hanger and went to his Griffin.

Once he was inside, he stripped to his shorts and put on the cooling vest. He strapped on the neuro helmet and went through the process of starting up the Mech, imputing all the passwords, sealing the cockpit, and running a system's check. Once everything was completed he contacted the Bridge.

"Foxtrot lead reports all systems go."

Soon the Bridge responded. "Control here. We are opening the bay doors."

No sooner had the announcement ended when the gantry began to drop to the ground. Once it had gone down, a Salvage truck came on board and began to load up the Awesome. This took about ten minutes. All the while Fox was thinking (come on, come on, hurry up!)

Once they had finished and had removed the Awesome, Fox began to walk his Mech out the door.

He stepped out into the bright sunlight, but his Mech's systems stopped it from blinding him. When he looked around, he saw two Mechs standing at some form of attention, but then he noticed a LAN in the distance. He used his Mech's free arm to perform a salute and the others followed suit.

Then the pilot of the right Mech started talking over the loud speaker. "Sir! Corporal Alison Lee reporting for lance assignment!" Even with the Mech's interference, Fox could tell this was not the voice of a human. He didn't comment on it however.

The second Mech's loudspeaker came on not a second later. "Sir! Corporal Corey Cullwell reporting for lance assignment!"

Soon he realized that the LAN was much closer than before. It didn't take him long to realize what the pilot was trying to do. (He's crazy!)

About 2 kilometers out the LAN started to go Mech. What should have taken a full minute only took 10 seconds, and the pilot landed perfectly, skidding about half a kilometer and coming to rest at the side of the other two Mechs.

Again the loud speakers came on. "Corporal Eric Herald reporting for lance assignment."

(Shit! I didn't know a human could handle a LAN like that!)

A voice came over the basewide frequency, "Holy shit! That was fricken' cool! Oops… did I say that out loud?"

Another voice came on, "Private Williams! Report to the disciplinary barracks immediately!"

Fox heard the rest of his new lance start snickering but that soon turned into full blown laughter.

Captain Roberts came in on a private frequency, "Perhaps you should shut them up. They may only be on the lance frequency, but others can still hear them."

"Right, right." He switched over to the lance frequency. "All right boys and girls, listen up." They immediately quieted. "Good. Now, I suggest we get to know each other. We'll be working together till one of us gets killed. This, with what I'm going to drill into you, won't happen. So let's get inside the Kitsune and talk over some food. When we go into battle I expect you to be able to read your lancemate's moves and build on them."

"Sir, yes sir!" They all responded at the exact same time.

"Don't Sir me, I work for a living."

The four Mechs walked into the Mech bay and parked in the four empty bays. Fox climbed down half-way, then let go and fell to the floor with a cat-like grace.

He noticed that the rest of his lancemates. (Two humans, both male, one feline, female. There's something odd about one of the humans though.) He was snapped out of his thoughts when he realized that Alison was standing in front of him.

"Oh…hello." (Great…now she thinks I'm crazy or something.)

But she just smiled and said, "Hi. I'm guessing you're Sergeant Geoffrey Freedman?"

"Well…technically I'm Sergeant Fox McCloud." He said, as he too smiled.

She immediately froze and bowed. "It's an honor to serve with you, Prince McCloud."

"Please, don't start that. Right now I'm just a Sergeant in the Republic's military."

"Sorry sir, I mean Fox." She stuttered.

"Sooo… you must be the Sergeant in charge of this lance, eh?" This new voice Fox remembered, but he didn't know from were.

"That would be me." He replied.

Now I think we should go meet the rest of the crew and soldiers." He said this as he turned and headed for the elevator.

Once the door opened, they went to the mess hall in the ship. When they entered the entire crew was having lunch, along with the rest of the soldiers onboard the 'Kitsune'. "Well this is the mess hall, as you can see. Over at table 4 is Alpha lance. Table 7 holds Fire lance, and over there at table 5 is were we go."

"Then there are the vehicle and infantry guys, but right now I want you to meet the big guns of the 'Kitsune'. They walked over and sat down next to the Fire lance.

"Well, hello there, Foxtrot." The man apparently in command of Fire lance said. "Welcome to the 'Kitsune' all of ye. Well, 'cept for old foxie over there. He was always on this ship, far as I know."

"Why is this Overlord class dropship called the 'Kitsune'?" Corporal Cullwell asked.

"Well, I can answer that." The group looked up and saw the Captain standing right next to them. They all stood up and saluted.

"At ease. And to answer your question. This ship is called the 'Kitsune' because it is Japanese for 'fox' which technically means all vulpine are Kitsune. And what can I say, I like the vulpines."

"So, you got to name this ship?" This came from Corey.

"Yes. All dropship captains get to name their dropships, if their new."

"Thank you Captain, but don't you have communications to monitor?" the head of Fire lance said.

"Oh! I almost forgot! Damn!" With that, she ran out the mess hall and towards the bridge.

"Well, that was…odd." Eric said.

"Thanks for pointing that out, Captain Obvious." The comment was from Fire lance's second in command, "and for the record, what the hell was that about, boss?"

"I saw that she had been assigned to watch the comm. To make sure the Clans don't have spies or anything like that."

"So what do you guys pilot?"

"Well speaking for the lance, I pilot an 'Atlas', Matt pilots a 'Catapult', Susan's got a new 'Vulture', and John over there has another 'Catapult'." There head in command stated very matter-of-factly.

Fox's lancemates just stared before he spoke up. "What? I told you they were the big guns right? Now let's get something to eat, I'm starved."

His lancemates had just nodded their heads and said goodbye when the speakers came on. "I need a Fox McCloud to Mech bay three. Fox McCloud to Mech bay three."

"Damn, and I'm hungry too!" But he sighed and said, "you all go ahead and I'll catch ya later." Then he stomped off towards his Mech bay, growling.

When he got there, Sam was waiting for him. "Finally. We got a package for ya."

"OK, and why did you have to drag me down here just to tell me that?"

"Because, Fox, it's more like a package for your Mech. A.K.A. a really big sword."

"What?"

They walked over to a big, long box and Sam signaled to the local Construction Mech's pilot to open it. It was about 2 minutes later that Fox finally saw the sword.

It was huge, and easily 3 full tons, long and slender with a slight curve to it. "A Mech size katana." Fox said reverently.

"Looks like it."

"Did it come with anything else?" He asked excitedly.

"Just this note that I can't read." Sam held up a slip of paper covered in a strange language.

Fox, however, understood it perfectly and grabbed it out of his friend's hand. "Tesla oridon mel."

"What the hell! You can read that?"

"Of course I can! It's old vulparion, and I was made to study it since I was nine. In English it means 'use this well'. I wonder who sent it?"

"Don't know, man. The only thing I could read was your name. So what do you want to do with it?"

Fox thought hard and finally said, "Mount it. I don't want the LRM launcher or the Clan Gauss rifle. Strip the launcher and switch the CGR with a light gauss rifle; that way I'll have longer range and more ammo. And put the sword in my 'Griffin's' free hand."

"You got it ole buddy." Sam said as he ran off.

**WOOOHOOO!** I finally got reviews!

To…Arsenel- That character is being controlled by my friend, and I promise I won't put many more big changes into the story.

Now for…pchadi0… the reason I gave it double heat sinks is because… he's covered in fur! How would you like to be in a Mech without good heat dissipation while being in a suit of fur?

And now its…Ogrewolf1's turn… just be glad I didn't do the whole palace is under attack scene as a side chapter…

Sorry for taking a while to update and I hope more people review this story.


	4. Chapter 4

**MechWarrior: Shadow Company**

**Chapter four**

Fine… I don't own anything in this story except the plot. And a few characters…

(AN) The call signs for the lance are as follows: Alison- Shadow cat

Cory- Black knight

Eric- Warrior

Fox- Samurai

"Woohoo!"

"Stow it, Culwell!" Fox said as he hacked another Mech in two, jumping away just out of range of the reactor explosion.

"Sorry, sir."

"They're ganging up on me, dammit! I need backup!" Alison yelled over the radio.

"Rodger that, Foxtrot three, Foxtrot lead is on his way." Once he had finished putting a gloryfire out of commission he ran off toward Alison's position. "Foxtrot two, cover the air!"

"Rodger sir!"

In the rear view, Fox saw Eric take to the skies.

"Shit! Toads!" Cory yelled, near panic.

"Two! Air strike those damn toads!"

Suddenly a computerized voice came from nowhere. "Foxtrot four down and out. Mission failed. Terminating simulation."

"Damn! Sorry guys, my bad."

"Cory, if you keep this up we'll never get past this training session!"

"Quiet Eric! It's not his fault. We weren't expecting elementals to show up right there."

"Thank you Alison. Now then, we are going to do this again…" The whole lance started to moan. "Quiet! We are going to do this until we don't lose a single Mech. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir…" They all replied.

"Good"

They continued training until lunch.

At lunch Cory plopped down next to his other two lancemates. "God, am I glad to be out of those simulators!" He said as he stabbed at his steak.

"Me too, but be ready to go right back in there and have a new surprise." Eric said as he finished chewing. "This is how the Vulparian Elite Guards train."

"Hold up. How do you know about the Vulparian Elite Guards?" Alison asked.

"Simple," He stuffed more steak in his mouth. "I was raised on Vulparia."

"What? I thought humans weren't allowed to live on Vulparia unless they were in the… Military. Oh. So, you were in the Vulparian Royal Army at some point?"

"Yes. That's how I got my LAN." He replied.

They sat talking the rest of lunch. Afterwards they left, but as soon as they got out the doors the speakers came on.

"Foxtrot lance report to the briefing room."

"Well, now what do they need us for?" Asked Eric.

"Probably just got assigned to trash duty." Cory answered.

The walk to the briefing room wasn't very long. They were there in only a few minutes. Fox was already waiting for them.

"Glad you ladies decided to show up." He said as a greeting. "Take your seats and listen up."

"Now, we have been selected by the high command to be part of patrol unit. Since we have some of the faster Mechs in the field we are to patrol the perimeter around the clearing. We also have to hook up with Charlie lance from the Bulldog. They, however, are a light lance, so they won't be much help in a firefight. They have a Cougar as lance commander, two Osisris MODs, and a Raven. Any questions?"

No one raised a hand.

"Good. We have thirty minutes before we meet up with Charlie, so get a shower or a quick nap, but be in your Mechs by twelve hundred. Dismissed."

With the end of the briefing, they all headed to the Mech bay.

Fox jumped up to his Mech's head and got in. He started the reactor and got in the cooling vest while putting on the neurohelmet. He finished and saw that the rest of his lance had also come online.

"This is Samurai to Foxtrot lance, you guys ready?"

"Warrior is ready OP."

"Shadow cat reports ready OP."

"Black knight, give me a target."

"Alright, fine." He switched over to the command frequency. "Samurai to command, reports ready OP."

"This is command. Aren't you leaving a little early?"

"We want to be punctual, command."

Alright then. Opening the bay doors. Be careful out there."

As promised the gantry doors began to drop, and Foxtrot lance was ready to hunt.

"Foxtrot lance, form up on my lead." Fox commanded as he walked his Mech down the gantry.

Once they had moved to the randevous point they stopped their Mechs and stood at a Mech's form of attention. After about twenty minutes Charlie lance showed up.

"Finally!" Fox sighed over the radio. "I was beginning to think you got lost in that maze of dropships."

"Hahaha. Very funny." The apparent leader of Charlie lance replied. "Now, can we get this patrol over with? I got a date."

"Whatever you say."

The greetings over, they started the patrol. Two hours later they arrived at NAV point EPSILON, a little bit before were they had started. "Well, nothin here but grass and trees." Charlie lead said.

Suddenly, alarms started going off, and two groups of five red blips popped up on the radar.

"Shit! Shit! Shzzzzzt!" The radio cut off abruptly.

"Charlie four, come in!"

"We've been ambushed! Foxtrot lance, take up defensive positions!" Fox ordered as he ducked his Mech behind a large tree. He looked around and saw that the rest of his lance had gone behind cover as well.

"Bulldog, this is Charlie one, we've been ambushed by the clanners! Charlie four is down and ahhhhh!"

Static filled the radio. Fox watched helplessly as Charlie one's Mech's cockpit was torn apart by a PPC and the pilot disintegrated.

Fox grabbed his Mech's controls and jumped out from behind his cover, firing one well placed shot before hiding again. He knew he had hit his mark when he heard (and felt) the loud 'thud' of a Mech hitting the ground.

He fired five more times, taking down three Mechs, before the clanners found the tree, and fired on it with a vengeance. He checked his radar to find there were only four Clan Mechs left. Suddenly his Mech was hit, his computer told him he now had some damaged shoulder armor.

Then the firing stopped, and a voice came over the radio. "This is Star Captain Peter of Clan Jade Falcon. You are outclassed here. If you surrender now, we will make you our bondsmen."

"This is Sergeant Geoffrey Freedman of the Inner Sphere Army. I do not believe you would be making this offer if you were not afraid of what my lance has done to your binary. So now I make you an offer, power down, surrender your Mechs, and we will take _you_ bondsmen."

"Why you insolent little… very well, we withdraw out offer of life. Now you die!"

As the Star Captain finished, Fox once again leapt from his hiding place and fired another light gauss slug, but this time he didn't hide again. Instead he ran straight towards the Clanners, katana held high, ready to slice a Mech in two. The gauss slug hit home, he had targeted the Star Captain's Mech. The slug slammed into the cockpit, killing Star Captain Peter in an instant.

The plan had been to kill the commander and disorganize the rest of the Mechs. And it had worked. The rest of the Mechs started to lose their bearings, and were now easy prey.

Fox hit his jump jets and went sailing over the Clan Mechs. He landed behind them and yelled over the radio. "Fire!"

The Foxtrot Mechs came out from cover and fired one volley.

Eric's SRMs leapt from their launchers, while his experimental laser gattling gun shot out beam after beam of intense green light.

Alison's ER lasers darted at the Clanners, one hitting a Puma's arm and the other stabbing its leg, while her LRMs launched forth a barrage of missiles that slammed into the Puma's other arm.

Corey's ER lasers danced across the Clanner Mechs, while his Auto cannon crushed a Ryoken's cockpit, and his missiles hit the Puma's previously damaged arm, destroying the PPC housed within.

The Clanners fired back, but few shots hit anything but trees. One PPC slagged some armor off Cory's chest. Some SRMs also hit Eric's leg armor, but did little more than scratch it.

Then Fox added his own power to the mix. He charged in at the Clanners from behind, who had apparently forgotten he was there. Using his katana, he sliced through a Hellhounds Auto cannon arm. The pilot had thought that hiding behind the others would save him, but the sudden lose of weight caused the Mech to tilt over and crash down on its good arm, destroying one of its ER lasers.

During this time, another volley came from the Foxtrot Mechs. They all concentrated on the remaining Puma. When it went critical, only the Hellhound was left. Fox activated his external speakers. "Clan Mech pilot, I herby claim you as my bondsman. You now serve the Inner Sphere under my direct command."

The Clan pilot also activated his speakers. "Aff, sir. I accept my position of Bondsman." He sighed.

Fox turned his Mech to look at his Lance. "Good job guys."

"Shouldn't you be more careful around a Clanner?" Cory interrupted.

When Fox replied, he had a slight growl in his voice. "Yes, Corey. However, I have taken this one bondsman. Show him the same respect you would show another lancemate, now help him up."

"Yes, sir." They replied at once.

Fox called back to Charlies two and three. "Charlie lance, this is Samurai- give me a sit-rep."

"This is Charlie two, thanks for pulling our butts out of the fire Foxtrot. We're back at the Bulldog getting repairs. You running or what?

"Hell, no! I may be a fox, but _I_ don't run from my enemies. I kick their asses!"

"Wait, you mean to tell me that lance of yours took down ten Mechs?"

"Well, only nine; we took another one bondsman."

"… Rodger. We'll tell command to expect you with a guest. Charlie two, out."

**End Chapter**

I forgot how to spell my friend's name, so that's why theirs two spellings of Cory.

Sorry, I forgot the quote for last chapter. Both of these are from some random website my friend found. He printed them out and gave them to me, he also said that their were a lot more there so I should have plenty of quotes from now on.

"Whenever you have plenty of ammo, you never miss. Whenever you are low on ammo, you can't hit the broad side of a barn."

"If only one solution can be found for a field problem, then it is usually a stupid solution."

I only got one review this time but I'll update anyway.

Thank you, Ogerwolf1 for being my only reviewer! And thanks for the tip. P


	5. Chapter 5

**MechWarrior: Shadow Company**

**Chapter 5**

Hello again people! I just wanted to clear something up in this chapter: I _will_ be using the call signs from now on. And no, I don't own anything cept the plot… yet.

This is a revised edition of chapter 5, I messed up with the last update, this is how it should have been in the first place. Sorry for the mixup. -

A few hours ago Foxtrot lance had arrived back at the Kitsune. They had sent the prisoner, whose name was Jerome, over to the ship's MP station, and were given some time to take a shower and/or get a nap in before the debriefing.

When Fox walked into the briefing room, he noticed the Captain there along with a man who was obviously high ranking. He came to a halt and snapped a salute.

"At ease, fox." Said the unknown man. He said it in a way that told Fox he wasn't liked by this man. However, he noticed the man was a two star general, so he kept his mouth shut.

Fox took his seat as the general stood and walked to the head of the table. "I know you weren't expecting me, so I'll introduce myself. My name is General Ivan Dosca, and I'm in command of the overlord's defensive Mechs." He said. "The emperor watched your performance on the battlefield today, Fox, and he told me to promote you. I'm also here to listen t your debriefing."

"Not that I want to be here." He added under his breath.

"And what about my lance? Will they be getting promotions too?" Fox asked.

"Hell if I know!" The general replied harshly. "All I'm here to do is what the emperor asked me to do. If it were up to me you'd all get demotions! Now shut your muzzle!"

Fox kept quiet. A few minutes later the rest of the lance came in. The general took one look at Alison and scowled; seeing this, she sat as far away from him as possible.

When everyone was seated the Captain began speaking. "For those of you who don't know, this is General Ivan Dosca. He was sent by the emperor to listen to the debriefing."

Everyone stood and saluted, but the general merely waved his hand to tell them to sit. Fox, however, remained standing and began the debriefing.

It lasted about two hours, during which Fox noticed General Ivan's eyes darting back and forth between Alison and him. Fox ended the debriefing by turning off the holo table, and Foxtrot lance started to leave, Alison being the first one out the door, when Captain Roberts called Fox back.

He came back in and stood at attention. The general unceremoniously dropped the Sergeant First Class rank on the table and left. Fox remained at attention.

The Captain shook her head and sighed. "I asked command not to send him." Then she turned to Fox and let him out of attention. "Sorry about that. He doesn't think you deserve a Mech command position. He thinks only a human can effectively pilot one. Show him you can and he may just come around." She said.

"I'll do my best Captain." He replied, then left.

The next day the lance went back to the training simulators. Fox could tell the lance was getting better at effectively using each other's strengths to defend against their own weaknesses.

Eric was more skilled in the air than on the ground. He was an expert at infantry and vehicles, however, he wasn't very good at handling other Mechs.

Alison, an expert in evasion, could dodge a wave of missiles and return fire, hitting the one who fired at her.

Cory had a problem with infantry so he and Eric tended to stick together. He excelled at Mech and vehicle combat, however, which made up for his weakness.

Since Fox had become a Sergeant First Class, the other lances were his to command, and he was putting them through the same training his lance was getting.

At lunch the three lances decided to move to the same table.

"Man! Fox is like a damn drill instructor!" Joseph, the second in command of the fire lance, yelled.

"I know, but he just doesn't want any of us to die out there, so he puts us through all this training to get us ready for anything those Clan bastards might throw at us." Eric replied as he finished his lunch.

"Well, guess what Foxtrot."

Startled, they spun in their chairs, but seeing it was only Fox, settled down.

"We get to go out on patrol again. This time there won't be a briefing or debriefing, so after lunch go straight to the Mech bay and get ready." He turned and walked out of the mess hall.

"I hope this time we won't run into any Clanners." Cory whispered.

"I think we all hope that Cory." Alison responded.

Once lunch was finished, Foxtrot lance reported to the Mech bay. Fox had ordered the other two lances to continue training until he got back. They got in their Mechs and powered up. Fox was already waiting outside.

When they stepped out of the dropship, they formed up on him as he turned on the radio. "Alright boys and girls, listen up. This time were hooking up with the recon lance of the Lupine. It's another Overlord dropship that's one of the Kitsune's escorts should we have to pull out. They aren't a light lance like Charlie was, so we'll have a little more power if we get ambushed."

"Alright! We get some useful partners this time!" Cory yelled.

"Yes, yes, Black knight. Now shut up and wait."

"Sorry, Samurai."

Soon afterwards four Mechs stepped out from behind the Kitsune.

A voice came over the radio. "Hope we aren't late!"

"Not by a second, Recon. How's everything on your ship?" Fox asked.

"Ah, same old, same old. Hear you got a promotion, Congrats."

"Ya, ya. Let's get this over with. I have to get back here and train the rest of the Mech jocks."

Once again they started out on the patrol. When they got to Nav. point Gamma, Fox noticed something.

"Where are all the animals?" He asked quietly.

"Don't know. Maybe the Mechs scared them off." Eric replied.

"Hmm. I don't like the smell of this. Alright everybody stay alert, and search the area."

They complied, and after a short time searching, they found what they were looking for.

"Guys! Check this out!" Recon three yelled.

"I'm on my way." Fox responded, as he made his way over to Recon three's location. As he arrived he realized that they would need backup.

The only thing he could think to say was "Holy shit…"

They had found a Clanner camp, just outside of the dropship's radar range. Fox estimated that their were at least two trinaries there. "We had better call this in." He whispered as he radioed the Kitsune. "This is Samurai to the Kitsune, Please respond."

As Fox waited for the response he set his Mech to Passive radar and had his lance do the same. "This is the Kitsune, what's up Samurai?"

"We got a situation here…" He proceeded to explain.

(A little later; at the command station.)

"… What do you mean two trinaries?" The general yelled at his aide.

"That's all we know, sir. Samurai requests assistance." The aide nervously answered.

General Ivan thought for a few minutes, weighing his options, and replied. "Send him the rest of the Mechs on the Kitsune, along with the Lupine."

"Yes, General Dosca." The aide replied as she bolted out the door to give the message to the transmitter.

Soon after it was sent, it was received on the battle field.

"Well, Samurai?" Alison asked.

"Backup is on its way. According to command, it's the rest of the Mechs from the Kitsune and the Lupine." He answered with a slight grin. - This would be his first opportunity to command anything bigger than a lance, and he wouldn't fail.

Just as promised, four lances of Mechs showed up about ten minutes later. The Atlas, Vulture, and two Catapults of Fire lance, along with the Black Knights of Alpha. The other Mechs from the Lupine were: A pair of Maulers, one Vulture, the Hellhound that Fox had captured, a Catapult, and three Uziels.

"Alright, is anyone here above Sergeant First Class?" Fox asked.

No one responded.

"Greeeaaat. That means I have to lead this." He said sarcastically. He began to plan the battle out.

He finally chose to charge Clan forces here and now. "Alright everybody!" He said to get his forces attention. "Here's what we're gonna do. We're going to charge them while they're still asleep. Go for the tents and other buildings first. That way they won't be able to get all their Mechs online. Once all the buildings are gone, go for the Mechs that have powered up. Anyone with long range weapons get up front and get ready to fire."

They complied, lining up their shots.

He called fire and they let loose everything that was in range. Thankfully, no one targeted the same thing. Most of his Mechs targeted tents while others shot the mobile command vehicle. Most of the tents burst into flames, then the alarms went off and the Clanners started pouring out of the ones that remained.

"Fire! Fire! Fire at fricken will!" Fox called to the rest of his Mechs.

"Samurai!" Eric yelled. "Some of the Mechs are powering up!"

Fox saw Eric was right. He took aim at the biggest Mech he could find and fired. His shot hit the Vulture square in the cockpit, and it crashed to the ground.

When he looked back over the field, he saw that there were more Mechs than at the beginning of the battle.

Then he realized that there was another trinary that had been hidden in the surrounding trees. "Shit, they got backup!" He yelled over the radio.

Soon after Fox had announced that the Clanners had backup, they started getting slammed, hard.

"Shit, Shit, Shit!" Cory cursed under his breath. He was surrounded by Mechs of all types and he had taken some heavy damage, but not so much he couldn't keep fighting, as long as he was careful.

"Come on boys, is that the best you got?" Alison was doing much better than Cory. Even though the Clanners were firing well aimed shots, she was able to dodge almost all of them and scored several headshots. She had taken down seven Mechs in this way. She had also crippled several other Mechs with well aimed shots.

"Yeehaa!" Eric yelled as he made another dive at the clanners. He had taken to the skies when he started taking fire, and now he was strafing the Clanner Mechs. They had taken shots at him, but he was able to evade most of them.

Meanwhile, Fox had been picking off targets as they presented themselves. So far he had taken down a full binary. He decided to check in on the other lances after his tenth kill went tumbling to the ground.

"This is Samurai to all lances, give me a sit-rep here people." He had to yell over the noise of the battle going on around him.

"Recon here. We aren't doing very well over here. I've lost two lance mates, sir." Even with the Mech's filter, you could still hear Recon's weapons firing.

"This is Alpha lead. We've taken some major damage, but we'll live." The sounds of battle accompanied this transmission as well.

"Alpha two of the Lupine! I'm the only one left sir, and I'm getting pounded!" Many explosions filled the radio during this message.

"Recon, hook up with Alpha two." Fox ordered as he slashed at a Shadow Cat that had come to close.

Recon responded, but the message was too distorted to understand.

"Bravo here, sir. We're fine here." Suddenly, the sound of a reactor explosion pierced the Comm. "I take that back, we just lost Corporal Cooper."

"Fire lance has one Mech down, sir. I think his reactor shut down cause it didn't blow." They must have secured their location, because the battle sounded distant in this message.

"Keep him covered Fire Lance. I don't want to lose any more people." Fox ordered as he let off another shot, this time just missing his target.

The battle raged for another half an hour, most of the time Clanners had been trying to get past Fox to take a shot at the crippled Mech that was Alpha two. By that time, the still functioning Clanners numbered only twelve. Fox decided it was time to offer the Clanners an honorable retreat. "This is Sergeant First Class Geoffrey Freedman of the Inner Sphere. You are herby given the chance for an honorable withdrawal."

"This is Star Colonel Jefferies of Clan Wolf. We will not be defeated by you fools! You will all die!"

"You were given the chance, and now you will pay for your insolence!" Fox said over the open frequency.

He saw a Daishi that had taken critical damage and decided to take it out. He took aim at a gaping hole in its armor, it had something leaking from it, and fired. His shot pierced what was left of the armor and scored a direct hit on the reactor. He watched as the Daishi started to cave in on itself, the containment systems failing to keep the reactor from detonating. As the reactor blew the rest of the Mech was disintegrated, along with the pilot.

The pilot of that Daishi must have been the Star Colonel, as with him gone the rest of the Clan warriors started to fall back.

"They're on the run, sir!" Alison shouted happily.

"Looks like a complete route, sir." Eric stated.

"Excellent job guys! Now let's get this place ready for the salvage and recovery teams." Fox said, smiling.

"Yes, sir!"

Wow. That took a long time to type. And now for me to respond to reviews!

Ogrewolf1: thanks for the tip, I didn't think I would have messed up like that.

Tremble Wolf: Don't worry, I intend on keeping this story going for a long, long time.

And now that that's over, I have a question. My friend is practically begging me to give him some kind of warship. I would like to know A: should I even give him one at all? And if you answer yes to that I want to know what kind.

And the quote of the chapter is… "Know your history. The lessons of the past will shield you in times of doubt." This quote was brought to you by… a card from Magic the Gathering. Goody. Review Me!


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter six**

Okay… I'm sorry about taking so long to update, but it took me a while to get this chapter done. Anyway… It was pointed out to me that I never actually described my characters. So… I'll do that.

Thanks for putting up with me so far. I'm doing this without my proof reader, so sorry if there are a lot of typos/misspellings/what have you.

(AN I have repaired this chapter as best I can without taking a few weeks to rewrite the parts I changed, basically I just changed someone's name. On to the repaired story!)

Fox woke suddenly to the sound of alarm klaxons. He had not had to hear them on full blast in a while, and his ears were starting to hurt from the noise. He quickly got out of bed and rushed toward the door. When he opened it, he saw the crew running everywhere, and the alarms were even louder.

He forced his way through the mass of people toward the elevator. As he reached the doors they slid open, and he almost fell in. He shut them and had the elevator take him to the bridge, because the ship was on full alert it took a few strands of his fur, to match his DNA. As soon as it had finished analyzing them the elevator began to head toward its destination.

Fox looked at his new rank, the rank of captain. Their had been several small battles that had occurred in the three months since his take down of the first two stars. He had showed exemplary performance over that short time, and was promoted several times. His lance had also been promoted, Alison to a lieutenant, and Cory and Eric became sergeant majors.

He was brought out of his trance when the elevator stopped, and he readied himself for the alarms, but when the doors opened he noticed the alarms weren't going off on the bridge. Then he remembered that there were no alarms on the bridge.

He stepped out of the elevator to meet the confused looks of the other MechWarriors. "What's going on?" He asked around a small yawn.

Alison was the first to answer. "We haven't been told anything, just that it has to do with the clanners." Her ears were flat against her head and her tail was twitching, signs that she was not very happy. She stood around six, two, and her fur was a light cream in color. The fur around her face was white. Her blue eyes were dull from just having woken up.

Cory was next. "I haven't heard anything, either." He stood around six, one, and looked like any fit human of that height would. His green eyes could pierce someone and make them say anything, for that reason he had to interrogate a few prisoners.

Eric had a little more to add. "From what I hear, the Clans are launching a major offensive. Don't know where or when though." Eric stood a little shorter than most humans, only five, six. He was lean, and Fox thought he looked just like a trueborn clan MechWarrior. He had hazel eyes.

Suddenly Captain Roberts came in, looking a little bit nervous. "Well, we have a problem. The clans have issued a trial of possession for the entire Inner Sphere. They say the only rule is no air units. That's bad, a large portion of our forces are air units. The trial is to be held on the open fields near the farming district."

"This is it, the final battle for the Inner Sphere. Alpha Lance will deploy near the front lines, Fire Lance, near the rear. Foxtrot Lance has been asked to be honor guard for the general." She looked at the MechWarriors assembled before her. "I don't know the exact force total for the clans, but they will surely have a lot of Mechs, vehicles, _and_ infantry. All of our best warriors will be on the battle field, as well as the not so good ones, that means I want you to look after one another, as well as the other warriors. The Exarch has said that the Inner Sphere has lost a lot of knights, and he is willing to give those who prove themselves the rank of either knight errant, or even knight. I know some of you are at the same level of skill as the knights, I hope you do well. Now move!" With that everyone bolted off the bridge and ran toward the Mech hangers.

Once they had gone down a few flights they heard the alarms blaring again, along with a computerized voice. "Attention all personnel. Attention all personnel. Report to your battle stations immediately." The message repeated itself five times before it left the alarms the only noise.

As they reached the hanger level, they split up to head toward their separate hangers.

Fox was the first in his lance to start up his Mech. As the gantry was lowered he noticed several small waves of IS units heading in one direction, and he also saw that a Nav. point had been added to his Mech's computer. He opened a channel to his lance. "Looks like we have a job to do. Move out to Nav. point Charlie, full throttle."

"You got it chief!" Eric answered as he bolted down the gantry.

"Jeez, do ya think you could be a _little_ more enthusiastic?" sarcasm from Alison, this was new. She must either be in a really good mood, or a really bad one.

"Let's just get this over with once and for all, Cap." Cory was definitely still half asleep. You could tell by the way his _Royoken _was leaning to the right a little bit, either that or he was drunk…

"Eric, remember, you can't use your fighter mode in this battle, or on the way there."

"Damn…"

The lance ran full speed to the Nav. point, even then it took them an hour to reach it. When they did, the only people there were the Paladin that had been assigned to the battle, (the general had been killed several battles ago) and a large group of clanners.

"Paladin Jorgensen, sir. Foxtrot has arrived."

"Welcome to the battle field Samurai, Shadow Cat, Warrior, and Black Knight." Paladin Jorgensen opened. "I had a feeling you would be the first to arrive. Your Dropship Captain has been signing high praise about you and, well, your record speaks for itself. The other Paladins should be here any time now, but while we wait, let's get the plan-of-attack memorized. Just so you know, at least for this battle, you all have been granted the honorary title of Knights of the Sphere, and all the other soldiers have been informed of this. Meaning if a Knight goes down, one of you have to take his place of command."

"Great…"

"Quiet, Warrior."

"Thank you. Now that that has been established, the plan. All the other Paladins are a part of my honor guard, and one will assume my position if I fall. Their will be twelve Knights, not including yourselves, and thirty-six Knight Errants. Sir Grey will lead the center flank, aided by two other knights and nine Knight Errants. Sir Smith will lead the left, while Sir Kirkwood will be in command of the right. Lady Eagle will cover our rear with about an eighth of our forces. Each Flank will have a number of repair vehicles/Mechs proportionate to however many units are in that flank."

"Sir?" Cory interrupted, apparently he was now wide awake. "What about force placement?"

"I was just getting to that. Basically the Assault Mechs will be on the front lines, then Heavies, then Mechs with long range weapons, and so on. The repair units will be in the center of the four flanks, guarded by elite MechWarriors, vehicles, and infantry. Any other questions?"

"None, sir." Fox answered.

By this time, the rest of the forces had shown up, and were in position. The other Paladins had arrived and were stationed around Paladin Jorgensen.

"Well, are we all ready?"

All the honor guards replied quickly, and Paladin Jorgensen started towards the Clanners. Soon after, the ilKhan started forward with a trinary plus his command star as his honor guards.

The two commanders met near the center of a large wheat field.

"So…" The ilKhan started. "Is this all the 'Great Inner Sphere' has to defend itself with?"

"Indeed." Paladin Jorgenson replied curtly.

"Humph! A pity that such a large area has only a small army of weaklings to defend it."

"We have been able to hold back your forces thus far…"

"Bah! We have taken all planets in our path, and now we stand ready to take many more with only one battle! This shall be an easy victory."

"You have an opportunity not to be slaughtered, I suggest you take it and leave. Surrender now and you may leave with your Mechs."

"Believe what you may, it is you who will be slaughtered! You shall pay for your insolence! Seyala!"

With that, the ilKhan turned and began moving back to his forces, as did Paladin Jorgensen. As they reached the front lines Foxtrot lance separated and went to where they believed they would be most useful. Fox and Alison joined the center forces, Fox up front, Alison on a small hill where she could snipe targets. Eric went to the right flank, while Cory took left.

When they had finished positioning themselves, they saw the Clans lighter Mechs had already covered half of the field.

"This is it!" Fox heard Paladin Jorgensen yell. All the front line Mechs braced for enemy fire, but it wasn't the enemy that got off the first shots. Alison and the other long range units had opened fire, with good results. Alison had fired all her weapons at the same time. The extended range lasers struck first hitting a Raven's leg joint, causing it to fuse, while her auto cannons hit a split second later, shattering the joint and causing the Mech to fall for lack of a leg. A panther got hit in the shoulder so hard, the shockwave sent through it broke the arm off. It fell on an unlucky scout tank, crushing it instantly. Several other Mechs went down while others just took some nasty damage.

As the Clan Mechs entered range they opened fire with whatever they had, mostly just small lasers and light machineguns. The assault Mechs weathered the fire and returned it ten-times-over. Fox fired his gun, but compared to some of the bigger Mechs, it was like using a squirt gun during a super soaker fight. But still he did some damage, not much, but enough.

Ten minutes later, most of the light Mechs had been dispatched, but the elite pilots were running circles around the giant Assaults. Alison sniped a Shadow Cat that had been harassing an Atlas.

Fox had engaged a Mjolnir in close combat. Sword against hammer, light against medium, speed against power. Neither Mech had an advantage, at least, not in equipment. Fox took the saying "The best defense is a good offense" a little to seriously. He was striking at the light Mech as fast as his Griffin could, but because of his opponent's lighter and faster design he was able to block every strike. Fox knew a few ways to beat a faster Mech, he concentrated on wearing his opponent down, but he didn't have to wait that long. The Clanner got impatient and decided to attack Fox. He took his opening and dodged while slashing at the Clanner. His blade cut through the Mjolnir's armor like it was butter, along with the reactor… The pilot didn't have time to eject as the reactor went critical, destroying the Clan Mech, its pilot, and most of the wheat field they had been dueling in. It also damaged Fox's leg armor.

Fox got up and returned to the IS forces, they had finished dispatching the first wave, and now were waiting for the second wave of Mediums, reinforced with Heavies.

"Samurai? How ya holdin up?"

"Just a heck of a scratch Shadow Cat, that's all."

"Quit the chatter you two, here they come!"

"Jeez, bossy Knight" Fox muttered low enough so his microphone wouldn't pick it up.

Again the long range units opened fire first, Alison's shots struck a Nova Cat full in the chest, making it stagger but not slow down much, her weapons were too light to do much damage to a fully armored Heavy. The other ranged Mechs had a bit more luck, a large missile salvo blew of an Avenger's arm, and crippled the rest of the Mech.

The Mediums reached firing range first, they did some damage, concentrating on the Mechs with the most damage. The Atlas Alison had helped had its arm blow up from a missile penetrating its armor and detonating inside. The giant Mech staggered, trying to remain standing, it managed to succeed, only to have an artillery shell slam straight into its torso. The shell destroyed any trace of armor and the reactor, it detonated within milliseconds.

"Incoming!" The alert came a little too late, as the artillery shells rained down on the IS forces.

"Return fire!" The IS artillery opened fire, aiming off the trajectory of the Clan's arty. Soon it became a battle of the arty.

"We need to take out that arty! Delta Company, go!" Fox shot an Avalanche in its missile rack, detonating the missiles housed their. The explosion knocked the Mech off its feet and destroyed its arm and shoulder, the reactor barely had time to shut down. Fox just had time to see the Maxim transports of Delta Company shoot out of the IS lines toward the Clan artillery positions.

"All units, give them some cover fire!"

"You heard Sir Gray! Charge!" All the mobile front line Mechs started forward at their best speed, which was not very fast. Fox had the fastest Mech on the front line, so he was going to hit the heavies first. They had stayed back to prevent the IS Mechs from getting to the arty, but they had been too slow to stop the Maxims.

Fox opened fire while running, distracting the Clanners from the transports. They returned fire as soon as they had range, but they had fired in a hurry, so all their shots missed. Fox started to zigzag to avoid the enemy fire. Once he was about fifty yards from them he charged them. They were caught off guard as he slashed down on a Loki's cockpit, killing the pilot instantly. The Nova Cat that Alison had hit earlier tried to block him, but he dodged left, stabbed it straight through the reactor, and hit his jump jets, sailing away as the reactor detonated.

His landing was a bit rough, but he managed to keep his Mech running. He looked back to see that the Assault Mechs had fallen back in place of the faster Heavies and Mediums. They ran past the disoriented Clanners as the Assaults engaged them in close combat.

Fox looked back to nearly run into a Daishi that had been moving up with some of the other Clanners. He barely had time to dodge as the Assault Mech fired everything at point blank range. A couple of lasers melted some armor off his shoulder, but it wasn't anything major. Fox slashed at the giant and cut one of its arms in half, destroying the lasers it was armed with.

Suddenly the Daishi froze, then just fell forward. Fox was confused, then just decided it had been an equipment failure and moved on.

Alison moved up next to him and opened a channel. "I may only have a Medium Mech, but I'm right behind you Samurai."

"Shadow Cat, your better suited to long range combat, you don't have any close range weapons. I would feel better if you stayed off the front lines."

"No way, I just got here, plus, there's no hill for me to snipe from. I'll cover your six."

"Fine. Just don't get yourself into any trouble. Got that?"

"Yes sir!"

The force of IS Mechs had caught up and engaged the last line of Clan defenses protecting the ilKhan. This was going to be the hardest part of the battle, as the Clans had only sent small groups of warriors to attack the IS defenses, so most of the Clan forces were still intact and were fighting to defend the ilKhan.

Fox slammed the barrel of his gun into a Clan Mech's cockpit and fired, just to make sure the pilot was dead. Alison fired point blank into a Koshi's chest and, being a light Mech, it fell after the reactor shut down. Fox fired at another Griffin, only to have his gun click on empty. "Shit! I need ammo!"

"Samurai! You and Shadow Cat get back to the repair units! They'll have your reloads ready for you when you get there."

"Roger that Sir Charles! Shadow Cat!"

"I heard, I'm right behind you!"

They made their way to the repair units relatively easily, but they had to shut down to receive their ammo, and that made both of them nervous. Soon enough however they were back online and heading back into battle.

Fox and Alison ran back into the thick of battle, Alison fired multiple times at a Tundra Wolf, but it just wouldn't go down. Finally she got a lucky shot and hit the cockpit. The big Mech fell with a 'thud' and Alison grinned. Fox fired at a Nova Cat that was missing a huge chunk of armor. However his shot only glanced off the shoulder, but an IS Uziel fired its two PPCs right into that hole and hit the reactor. It blew instantly.

Fox thanked the pilot by blowing a hole in a Shadow Cat's missile rack. The Clanner had been sneaking up on the Uziel. "Thanks for the save, mate!" The pilot was apparently Australian.

"Talk later! Shoot now!" Was Fox's reply as he shot an enemy Vulture.

"Right!"

"Samurai! Nine O-clock!" Fox looked just in time to avoid a Blade's Gauss slug. He ducked down and fired back, but his hastily aimed shot only grazed the Clanner's arm. His weapon was lighter and therefore took less time to reload, so he was able to get off another shot before the Clanner. It hit the Blade's gun and put a dent in the barrel, making the weapon useless.

Alison had taken down another Gyrfalcon and finished off the Blade that Fox had just rendered weaponless. Suddenly a Mjolnir was about to crush her cockpit with its hammer, but Fox intercepted it with his sword. He held the hammer in place with it as he put his gun to the Clanner's cockpit, and fired. The light Mech fell to the earth at Alison's feet.

"I thought I told you to stay out of trouble." He said mockingly.

"Sorry."

Fox turned away from her and began firing at a Catapult that was picking on another Uziel. He distracted it enough for the lighter Mech to get away towards the repair units. However, he underestimated the Clan Mech. It was armed with an artillery missile system, along with three extended range lasers. The pilot fired everything at Fox, fortunately he had missed Fox with the lasers, and Fox's AMS took down the missile. Suddenly the Clan Mech toppled over backwards, a smoking hole of melted slag where its cockpit had once rested. "Now we're even, mate"

"Looks like we are." Fox replied.

The battle had been raging for an hour and both sides were starting to get tired. Alpha lance had taken a lot of damage, and had been called back to the repair units. Fire lance was sticking to their job, and providing support fire. Eric had been knocked out and was currently in one of the M.A.S.H. vehicles, and Cory was still taking down enemies.

Fox was on his second reload and was helping Alison snipe Clanners. They had called in their infantry and vehicles, and so had the Clan forces. Currently most of the Mechs were getting repaired and rearmed, and the snipers of both sides were taking advantage of this. It was mostly a battle of old though, infantry and tanks slugging it out on the battle field.

A half hour later and the Mechs joined back in. An enemy Ryoken ran up the hill Fox and Alison were on and ran smack into them. They opened fire instantly and the Clanner was reduced to scrap in no time. They slowly started the trek down the large hill they had taken, still sniping Clan Mechs.

The two of them reached the bottom of the hill quickly, and just as quickly, an enemy Hatchetman came from behind a group of trees. It must have had an ECM suit because it didn't show up on radar.

The weird thing was, it just stood their, but then it opened a channel to Fox and Alison. "This is Star Captain Muerto of Clan . Are you by chance the pilot that lead the Inner Sphere charge?"

"Yes, that would be me." Fox answered, a little confused as to why this clansman was looking for _him_.

"Finally! A worthy opponent! I herby challenge you to a trial of possession. The winner claims the other as bondsman. Do you agree?"

"Aff. Shadow Cat, please do not interfere."

"Yes, sir." She replied as she stepped back and started sniping other Clanners.

Fox laid his rifle down near a barn and held his katana in both hands, this way he would get more power out of his strikes. As he faced his opponent, they bowed slightly, and started circling. "Why did you seek me out? There are many more worthy warriors on the battle field."

"True, but no one else was able to kill two of our best warriors, with one strike each, while moving, and barely stopping. One who can do that is worthy of even a Khan to do battle with."

"It was merely luck."

"Perhaps. Luck is an essential part of fighting though!" He yelled as he charged Fox, axe held in a ready position.

Fox had been ready, he held his sword in one hand and knocked the axe away while simultaneously punching Muerto's Mech in the shoulder. The force of the blow dislocated the Hatchetman's arm, leaving only one arm to wield the axe.

"Impressive, but I am still not down!" He charged Fox again. Fox flipped his sword to his other hand, ready to repeat his earlier technique on the other arm. Apparently Muerto had anticipated this as he dodged and attacked Fox's fist. He was barely able to block this strike and save his arm. Thinking quickly, Fox grabbed the axe as it hooked over his sword and, pulling it up, ripped it from Muerto's hand. Now Fox had a sword and an axe against nothing.

"Most impressive! I admit defeat, and as you are the winner, I am your bondsman. What shall you have me do?"

"Stand over here." Muerto did so. Fox dropped his weapons and grabbed the Mech by the shoulder. He pushed as hard as his Mech could and pushed the Hatchetman's arm back into place. When he let go Muerto tested his Mech's arm and found it was still functioning.

Fox picked up the two weapons and handed the axe, handle first, to his bondsman. Muerto took it and watched as Fox walked over to his gun and picked it up. He ran a quick check to make sure it would still fire and said. "Let us get back into battle. Stay with me Muerto, and change your IFF code to 25183-E."

"Aff, sir."

Fox waited for Muerto's Mech to change to friendly on the radar and set out toward the battle. Alison joined them quickly and opened a channel to Fox. "Are you sure we can trust him? He's a Clanner!"

"Shadow Cat, I would trust him with my life."

"Alright…" She expanded the channel to include Muerto. "Paladin Jorgensen has said that the battle is almost over. There are only a few more Stars left to deal with and they're the ilKhan's honor guard. He wants us their to back up the others."

"Right. Muerto, do you think you could handle yourself in a battle with the honor guard?"

"It would be an honor to battle by your side in this duel."

"Good. Shadow Cat, lead the way."

Alison led them to where the final battle was taking place. Muerto informed them that the honor guard consisted of the other Khans and several Galaxy Commanders. So this was going to be a very difficult fight.

"I can see Cory from here!" Alison exclaimed. "It looks like he's holding his own!"

"We had better get down there, fast. I don't know how long he can hold." The three of them rushed down the hill at full speed. Alison stopped about halfway down and started firing at the clan honor guard. Using her enhanced optics system, and the fact that she had _really_ good eyesight, she was able to hit her targets and not her allies.

Fox dropped his gun in favor of his katana, he might hit an ally with a stray shot. Fox and Muerto hit their targets at about the same time. A Shrike that was taking pleasure in blowing apart the lighter Mechs was Muerto's, while a Masakari was Fox's. Muerto hit his jump jets and performed a flawless Death-from-Above, crushing the Shrike's cockpit.

Fox simply stabbed his target through the reactor and jumped back, away from the explosion. It was Fox that alerted the rest of the Clan honor guard with the explosion. A Mech he didn't recognize stepped forward to face him, they apparently didn't know Muerto was against them now. Fox did a search and found the Mech was a Gorgon, a clan protoMech that he had found on Muerto's Mech's computer. It was a very powerful design, but its main gun was stationed vertically on its back. Meaning it would have to take some time to ready the weapon.

Fox charged the Heavy and took an ER laser to the shoulder in the process. Just as the main weapon was getting ready to fire, Fox slashed at the Mech's head. Along with the cockpit, the two weapons on the shoulders were cut off the rest of the Mech. It fell backwards, onto the weapons and head.

The Paladins and Knights had finished all but one of the Clansmen, the ilKhan was still putting up a fight. Until Cory fired an Alpha Strike straight into the Mauler's damaged chest. The lasers destroyed the armor and the missiles that followed shattered the reactor. The ilKhan screamed as his Mech detonated and was turned into a giant mass of slag. Cory's Ryoken was shut down, but he had killed the Clan leader.

"That's the end of em! All units, secure the area!"

"Yes sir!"

A minute later and Cory's Mech had cooled off enough to restart. Paladin Jorgensen started speaking to him once he had come online, on the open channel. "Well done Sir Culwell!"

"I'm not a knight, am I?"

"You and the rest of your lance just won the war for us! I think you all deserve to be knighted, and I'll be sure to tell that to the Exarch that as well." Now he addressed the entire force. "All units prepare for salvage and recovery, and call in a dropship or two, we could all use some rest and some hot food."

End chapter six

That was a long chapter… but its done! Time for review responses!

First to my latest reviewer: Bienvenido S. Canonizado- I thank you for the review but I am sorry to say you may have reviewed the wrong story. This is the only story I have ever written. Again I am sincerely sorry, but I thank you for reading and I hope you review me again.

To Tremble Wolf: thanks for reviewing! Twice! Yes my name is based of my character, and if you want to know what a vulpine is, and my story doesn't really explain that very well, just do a Google image search of Star Fox, my character looks just like that game's hero. And yes, his name is also Fox McCloud, that is one of my favorite games and so I used the name for my character. Thanks for reviewing!

To pchadi0: Ya… sorry about that, I think I replaced that last chapter with one that sort of fixed that a little bit. Thanks for the review!

To The Elemental: Yes, I do know who you are. Everyone listen up! This person is one of the _main_ characters in this story, the one who guesses right wins… something, maybe a place in this story! Thanks for the review!

To Ogerwolf1: Thanks but I forgot I already had plans for multiple warships. Namely the Great Fox and its escort fleet. So, sorry for disregarding your review, but if you want me to make it up to you I can put something of yours into this story! Maybe a character, or something else? And thanks for the tip I really took hold of that in this chapter I think… Thanks for the review!

And time for the quote! This time I got two for ya!

"Honesty may be the best policy, but it's important to remember that apparently, by elimination, dishonesty is the second-best policy."

"I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death."

Thank you for reading this chapter! If you don't know what one of the Mechs looks like (cough-Gorgon-cough) then do a Google search for Patrick's Battletech Archive. Go to the Mech Lab section and then just click on the name of the Mech you want to see a picture of. Its that easy!


	7. Chapter 7

**MechWarrior: Shadow Company**

Hello again peoples. From now on I am not putting the disclaimer. If I am posting this on it should be pretty damn obvious that I don't own the damn stuff I'm writing about! If I did, it would already be a complete story, written in books and it wouldn't be alternate reality because it would have been this way when it was first created!

Now that that's done, on to the Chapter!

**Chapter 7**

Paladin Jorgensen had told the Exarch that he thought Foxtrot lance should be knighted. He agreed relatively quickly, and only a week after the battle there was a parade in honor of the Inner Sphere soldiers, and to show off the newly made knights and knight errants.

The parade consisted of the paladins and knights, along with several squads of infantry, battle armor, and vehicles. Fighters were soaring over head, trailing colored smoke.

Eric had woken up a few days after the battle. The first thing out of his mouth was "Did we win?" then he asked about his LAN. It had been totaled by a Heavy Gauss Rifle slug slamming straight into the chest. LANs aren't meant to take that much damage in one hit so the computer immediately ejected him. He had been fortunate to survive, and Fox said even he couldn't have got the Mech back up and running. So Eric had settled on getting one of the Clan Mechs still left on the Battle field, a Marauder IIC.

Fox had been called to the capital by the Exarch to discuss… things. He had come back a little nervous, and locked himself in the briefing room on the Kitsune. Rumors were going around that Fox would be in command of a new company, but others countered that they still had to rebuild the old ones first.

Back in the parade, Fox and his lance were the first knights in the procession, after the paladins. In between them there was a few squads of battle armor marching along. What interested Fox was that they were all Clan Elemental suits.

"Samurai? When are you gonna tell what happened at the capital?" Alison was curious about that one subject. She had been asking about it since he came out of the briefing room, she had been standing at the door when he came out.

"Fine! After we get back to the Kitsune I'll tell you. Just stop bugging me about it. Ok?" She didn't ask again during the parade.

The parade lasted for a full three hours. That was just the time from start to finish, they still had to get back to the Kitsune after they were done. They got back to the ship in another hour. Fox was last to get his Mech anchored and the last to get down. When he did his lance was waiting for him.

"Well? What happened?" Alison asked.

Fox lead them to the briefing room and told them to go in. They were astounded at what they saw. The entire room was covered in dossiers of MechWarriors. A small stack on the holotable was the only semi organized part of the room. "Those are just ones I haven't looked at yet." Fox said while pointing to the stack.

"What is going on?" Eric was now very curious as he looked at his commander.

"The story is rather strange, but I'll do my best. Sit down, somewhere." They did as he sat at the one clean chair in the room.

"Now, when the Exarch called me to the capital, he told me that he and his allies, ComStar, and some of the Great Houses, needed an elite merc company that they could hire and keep it a secret. He knew that your skill in stealth, Alison, did not only come out in battle, but that you were an expert at hiding things and coming and going without being seen. And you do just about anything when it comes to keeping a secret. So, he asked me to command a new mercenary company, called Shadow Company, and have you three as my command staff."

"He said that I would have access to every MechWarrior's file and I could choose from any of them to fill the ranks of this company. We also get a full company of Elementals. I have only chosen three of the lances, the ones currently onboard this ship. I am basing my selections on several factors: can they handle infantry, vehicles, Mechs, and fighters, can they handle their Mechs properly, and can they hit what they shoot at. The files in the chairs are the best I've found so far."

"We can help." Cory finally said.

"I'm ready." Eric agreed as he reached over and grabbed a file from the stack. They both looked at Alison and she nodded back as she reached for a file.

"Thanks." Fox said as he too grabbed a file. They were up all night reviewing files and going over the list of available Mechs. They started selecting pilots the next day, Alison and Fox were the two actually making the calls to the new mercs as they were used to pulling all-nighters. So Cory and Eric were just getting the numbers and things like that.

Even Fox was tired at the end of the day, they had to call about forty pilots and get four overlord dropships to the Kitsune's location for the ten lances, plus the extra Mechs. They slept from ten to eight that night.

They got up to realize that the pilots had showed up early, eager to start the new assignment. Most of them just wanted the better pay, but some wanted to do some good for places other than the Inner Sphere. The Elementals showed up about an hour later.

The Elementals were stationed on a smaller dropship than the overlords. It was a specially designed troop transport type dropship, capable of sending boarding parties onto ships.

Fox still had the job of deciding where to place the new pilots and Mechs. It took him a while but he finally decided on having four groups of twelve Mechs each, not including the command group.

The scout unit, the defense team, the assault unit, and a unit that had a lance qualified for each of the others.

The scout unit was directly commanded by Alison, second in command was Captain Monroe, another lady from the world Alison's race originated. She piloted a rare, but effective Mech called a Falcon Hawk. It was rare for a reason, It was as old as the Star League, and in near mint condition. The lance consisted of an Uller, a Gurkha, and a Wolfhound.

Leader of the second scout lance, was a young man who only went by his call sign "Major Pain." He piloted another rare Mech, a Spector. Another design from the Star League, the Clans didn't seem to have used this design. A Sha Yu, Uller, and a Clan Mech called a Vixen, made up his lance.

The leader of the third scout lance was an older man called Major Saber. He never told anyone his actual name, and he always carried a saber, so that was his nickname. He did not pilot a rare Mech, it was actually quite common, a Razorback class light Mech. This lance was made almost completely of medium Mechs, minus the Razorback, and had a Wolf Trap, a Daimyo, and a Lynx.

The defense unit was directly commanded by Cory. Second in command was Captain Daniels, piloting a Wolverine. It was mostly a medium unit, reinforced with heavies. His lance had a Rabid Coyote, a Crab, and a Caesar.

Leader of the second lance was a Major Iken, an oriental man whose name meant "power". His stead was a Stooping Hawk. The men under him all piloted heavies, a Cauldron Born, Lancelot, and Cataphract finished off his lance.

The last lance consisted of Major Sky, a young lady who had just graduated Mech training with outstanding results and piloted a Marauder, a Firestarter, a Bushwacker, and an Enforcer III finished up her lance.

The assault unit was commanded by Eric, and Captain Johnson was second in command. He was the proud owner and pilot of a Star League Era Mech called a Nightstar. His unit was completely made up of Assaults, his lance had a Scylla, a Thug, and a King Crab.

Major Miller was the second lance's commander and piloted a Devastator. Her lance mates piloted an Awesome, a Warhammer IIC, and a Savage Coyote.

Finally, the last assault lance consisted of some Clan bondsmen. Muerto was in command, and he had traded up for an assault Mech called a Blood Asp. The other Clansmen piloted an Annihilator, a Daishi, and a Canis. All Clan assault Mechs.

Fox was in charge of the omni unit, and Second in command was a Captain Cornell, piloting a Rifleman and leading the defense lance. The rest of the lance piloted a Hatchetman, a Ronin, and an Axman.

Major Roberts said he wasn't related to the Kitsune's captain and she agreed with him, so Fox left it at that. He was the scout lance's commander, and piloted a Talon. The rest of the lance piloted a Scarabus, a Koto, and a Hussar.

Major Benson, the leader of the assault lance, piloted a Hatamoto-chi. The lance consisted of a Zeus, Mauler, and an Albatross.

The three lances of the Kitsune made up the command unit. Fox had switched to a Hatamoto-chi and changed out the two medium lasers for his katana. He also striped the SRMs for a bigger engine, giving the Assault Mech a much higher speed, and a little more armor around the reactor.

Fox worked out that with five overlord class dropships, the company would be able to salvage about twelve more Mechs before they would either have to sell some, or get another dropship. Now all they needed was a few ships with jump capabilities.

The next day Fox got a transmission from the Vulparian Royal Navy. He was surprised to get the call from Admiral Jacob. He was even more surprised when the Admiral _suggested_ that the fleet become the company's transport and backup.

Captain Roberts was thrilled about this. The chance to work with the legendary VRN was a chance that no ship captain would easily pass on. She also didn't like the thought of fighting against people with warships and only having a handful of dropships to do it with.

Fox was a little hesitant, until the Admiral told him they had gotten a transmission from the imperial palace on Vulparia, saying that one of Fox's elder brothers had risen from the ashes of the empire, and retaken the planet. After that Fox was quite happy, even giving the men of the new company a few weeks to say goodbye to their families.

After those weeks were done, however, it was time to train. The Exarch gave Fox use of one of the most prominent training bases on Terra, to get the new recruits up to Fox's specifications. It took them over two months of solid training to get the new men to that level. As soon as they had gotten there, Fox began coordinating with the Admiral to get his forces off planet and on their way out of the system.

It took them a week to get everything arranged and in place. The company was now at the local spaceport, getting things secured and ready for launch. The spaceport was shut down due to the large number of dropships launching at the same time, so the citizens of the area were all gathered around the port, trying to get a glimpse of just what was going on. Even the local news crews were there, all trying to get in and make a better story out of it.

Fox and a few other vulparians were standing around on guard duty, just incase a news crew got in. They were all wearing the same black jumpsuit with vulparian sun glasses. However as the last Mech loaded onto the dropships, it didn't look like that would happen, but as they started towards their dropships Fox heard something.

A news crew had somehow gotten past the barrier set up around the spaceport. Fox grabbed his radio. "Perimeter breached! Get to the ships! Go!" As he yelled he started sprinting to the Kitsune. He saw the others also run toward their ships. He could hear the reporter yelling at them to stop, that he just wanted to ask some questions, but Fox didn't stop until he was onboard the Kitsune. He slammed the 'seal' button next to the door, and it slid shut with a hiss. The reporter had only gotten halfway to the ships when the launch siren sounded, giving them only two minutes to get back inside the port's buildings. They made it with only a few seconds to spare as the engines of the dropships shot out white hot plasma.

Fox watched from a viewing platform as the reporter turned to the cameraman and started talking. Fox didn't care, he'd probably see it on the news later that day anyway. He left the platform as the Kitsune passed the clouds that had covered the sky that day.

He decided to check on his new mount, the Hatamoto-chi, he decided to just rename it the Hatamoto. He got to the hanger to see the new reactor being placed into the Mech. He watched for a few minutes, then went to take a nice warm shower and go to bed. They would be hooked up with the fleet in the morning.

He awoke quietly and found that he was floating in his room, he was startled, but then remembered that unless a human starship was moving it didn't have any gravity. He had grown up on vulparian ships, but had been living on the Kitsune for the past year or so, and had gotten used to waking up floating.

He got dressed, which was always difficult while floating, and made his way towards the bridge. He arrived to see that Captain Roberts was the only one up. "Morning Captain." He greeted her.

"Same to you…Colonel." She couldn't help but laugh. As soon as she said colonel she cracked up.

"What's so funny?" He asked, confused.

"It's just, you used to be a Mech tech, and now your in command of a whole freaking mercenary company! It's…funny." She started laughing again.

Fox decided to just let her get it out of her system. She finished laughing after a while. "So what are you doing up so early fuzz ball?"

Fox chuckled at the words 'fuzz ball'. "Just wanted to get a look at the fleet is all. To see how much its changed since I left."

Captain Roberts looked out at the fleet, trying to picture what it might have looked like five years ago. "The ships are completely different from the Inner Sphere's, and the Clans as well. Why do they all have wings? I thought only dropships could go into a planet's atmosphere."

"You would be wrong about that last part. All vulparian warships are specifically designed so that they can go anywhere. Even underwater. The wings make it easier for the reactors to keep the ship air born, if its moving that is."

"Oh…I have a lot of questions about vulparian technology. I never thought to ask you. I don't know why though. I guess I figured you had only studied human technology, you were so damn good at fixing it. Do you mind if…?"

"No, I don't mind you asking about our technology. After all, you need to know what you have covering your ass."

"Ha, ha. Anyway, I heard your scientists were on the verge of being able to create shield generators. Where are they on that?"

"They've done it. At least once that I know of. The Great Fox has an experimental shield generator. The only problem is that it hasn't been fully tested. That's why they put it on the biggest ship in the navy, so if it fails, the ship will still be able to take care of itself."

"Nice… what are those other ships out their? They look like they could take on two full blown battleships."

"Those are some of the biggest ships ever created. They're called fortress class ships, and your right, they do have enough guns to shred a battleship or two. The only thing bigger than that class is the super fortress, and only one of those have ever been made. Three guesses what its name is." He joked.

"Gee… I don't know… maybe the Great Fox?" She smiled as Fox nodded. "I thought so."

Suddenly Fox heard a slight beeping. He pointed it out to Captain Roberts and she checked her computer. "Well that was fast."

"What?" Fox was curious as he tried to read over her shoulder unsuccessfully.

"It seems word of our new company has spread quickly. We've got a proposition for a job from ComStar. It looks like the Word of Blake has risen from the ashes, again, and has taken control of a… whoa, a fully functional Hyper Pulse Generator station. No wonder they need some help, they have no units within quick reach of the station, and the wobbies have about four lances of Mechs and a company of tanks stationed around the generator. Their offer is about ten million C-bills. Not to shabby for our first op, eh?"

"Not to shabby at all. Its about time the others got up anyway. Sound the siren, contact the other ships, and have a meeting ready in about twenty minutes, briefing room one. Alright?"

"Got it." She yelled to him as he sprinted to the briefing room to clean up his mess.

End Chapter Seven

Thanks for reading this chapter! Now about the shield generators… I know they don't exist in MechWarrior, but I just couldn't help it! The vulparians are _supposed_ to have slightly more advanced technology than humans, so it only figures that they'd at least _try_ to create shield generators. So what I'm saying is, please don't bug me about that specific part.

And now for review responses!

First to Ogrewolf1: thanks for not getting mad at me, you're my only consistent reviewer! And thanks for the quote too!

Now to Pchadi0: I sent you an email but if you didn't get it I'm sorry, I copy pasted the email address off your review. But any way thanks for telling me that… I just have one question. If the Jade Falcons would never physically attack an opponent… why is it WizKids gave them a bonus when performing DFAs? It just confuses me to hell why they would do that! Anyways, thanks for the review!

And its once again time for quotes!

"If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning"

"My luck is so bad that if I bought a cemetery, people would stop dying"

Thanks! Review Me! I command it! Oh and if you happen to know of an Inner Sphere ally and want some credit in this story, then email me with the ally, and a fesable mission that Shadow Company could be offered… and tell me the name of the planet whatever mission takes place on. Thanks!


	8. Chapter 8

**MechWarrior: Shadow Company**

Hello and welcome to another installment of MechWarrior: Shadow Company. As always please review!

**Chapter 8**

"Alright, any questions?"

It had been forty minutes since they had received their first job. Fox had just finished informing the rest of the company of the specs.

"All I can say is that our ships won't be able to help much. The station is located in the middle of a city, right?" The admiral questioned. Fox nodded. "Ya, I thought so. Going off what I know about the Word of Blake, which isn't much, they probably have the citizens in the station and the buildings around it."

"I've fought the Wobbies before and I can testify that they will use anything available to take out the enemy. Even nukes." Major Saber informed them.

"Great… mental note, scan for anything nuclear on the planet. Anything else?"

"I don't think so, sir. All I want to know is when do we get to kick some Wobbie ass?" Eric was excited about getting to use his new Mech. After all, it was an assault Mech with jump jets.

Fox chuckled. "As soon as we get on planet. How long until we're ready for the jump admiral?"

"We can go right after this little meeting is done."

"Well, this is the last chance for questions, anyone? Ok… strap yourselves in and prepare for the jump." They did as instructed and in a matter of moments they heard the Great Fox's jump drive kick in.

(AN: I have not found anything that is able to describe what happens during a jump. So I'm just going to skip that part. Back to the story!)

"We're here, and it looks like we got problems." Captain Roberts informed them.

"What kind of problems?" Fox asked, nervous.

"Nothing too serious, just a little glitch in the Kitsune's computer. Apparently I forgot to reprogram it to recognize vulparian jumps. It still thinks it's over Terra, but knows it's at least a full jump away. I can fix this while you guys take care of the targets." She replied

"Ok…" Fox radioed the ships. "All personnel, report to your Mechs, I repeat, all personnel, report to your Mechs."

Soon Fox and his men were strapping themselves into their Mechs, getting coolant vests on and everything else MechWarriors had to do before going into combat. "Captain Roberts here, we're right above the city. We'll detach from the Great Fox in a few seconds… done." Fox could just hear the clamps unlocking from the Kitsune.

In no time they were hitting turbulence. They had to go to about six hundred feet above the city before they could deploy. Most of the Mechs had jump jets, but those that didn't were forced to have drop away boosters attached to them.

Suddenly the dropship lurched, they were slowing to a hover above the city. A few minutes later and the gantry started to level off. What they saw astounded them.

The "city" was actually a very large military station. One with several platoons of infantry, and at least a regiment of tanks. It seemed that the Wobbies had taken control of the Mech hangers first, before the station had time to react. But it had reacted before they could take anything else. The station was now on full alert, and it looked like some AA guns were looking to fire on the dropships.

Fox patched through to the station's command center. "This is Colonel McCloud of Shadow Company. We have been hired by ComStar to secure this HPG facility, until reinforcements arrive. Order your men not to fire on anyone from my company. We have black camo."

"This is Lt. Colonel Marks. Thanks for coming to the rescue Colonel McCloud. We could definitely use some Mech backup."

"Understood. Do you happen to know if anyone on our side is inside the generator?"

"Not a one, but I did send a special forces unit in earlier, to get some of my officers out. They all made it out though."

"Roger that. All Mechs, we are clear to engage. Focus on the enemy Mechs, draw them away from our ground pounder friends."

"Yes sir!" His unit responded quickly. They jumped off in a not so occupied spot and split off to take the fight to whoever was near. Fox hit the ground in a crouch, he stood up quickly and fired at a tank that was mowing down a bunch of infantry.

He was suddenly contacted by what appeared to be the Wobbie commander. "What do you think you're doing? We hired you to kill the infidels, not the righteous!" He yelled at Fox.

Fox quickly replied. "I am pleased to announce that we are not who you think we are, sir. We have been hired by your more sane brothers, ComStar. To secure this station, and kill all Word of Blake soldiers. Have a nice rest of your very short life." He finished this up by firing at a Blake Mech that was trying to kill some Gnomes.

The lone Hatchetman turned in surprise to see an eighty ton monster firing at him. He returned it, but it was a poorly aimed shot and it soared way overhead of Fox's Hatamoto. Fox continued firing at the medium, concentrating on one spot. While the Wobbie was just trying to hit him. Finally he got tired of missing and charged Fox, a very bad idea. Fox pulled his sword from the custom made sheath attached to his Mech's left torso. The pilot was truly scared now, he tried to stop but his momentum carried him straight into Fox's attack range. Fox swung and hit the lighter Mech's arm, cutting cleanly through the scant armor there. The sword kept going and buried itself deep into the Wobbie's torso. Fox pulled it free, only to have it cut a coolant line to the Mech's reactor. Fox noticed his opponent's heat climb drastically and, realizing what was happening, dove out of the range of the blast. When he got back up, there was nothing but a smoking crater left of the once mighty Mech, and a severed arm.

Fox turned his attention to another WoB Mech, an Orion. He fired and hit the Wobbie in the arm, the pilot reacted quickly, turning and firing one clean shot. Fox wasn't expecting the pilot to be as good as he was and the shot hit him clean in the chest. Fox ducked back behind a building and started leaning out and firing. Every time he went back behind cover the Wobbie would turn and try to take on another Shadow Mech, and when Fox started firing again he would turn back. Apparently he thought that his Mech could take anything. A true believer in the Word of Blake doctrine, he thought that if he just believed in his Mech it could do anything, he was wrong. Fox watched as a full squad of Elementals jumped onto the Mech and started ripping it apart, piece by piece. The pilot started to panic. One of the Elementals broke through the Orion's cockpit, grabbed the pilot, and threw him to the ground. He hit the ground hard, and didn't get up again.

The Elementals jumped from the Mech and started tearing apart the other Word of Blake units. They used their claws to great effect, tearing open the hatches of tanks and breaking through the cockpits of Mechs, and killing the crews and pilots, leaving them ripe for salvage.

Fox moved toward the generator and encountered several Mechs; all light Mechs called Gurkha and armed with swords. They weren't exactly good at using their swords and they fell easily to Fox and his katana. Then Fox ran into a Gladiator, obviously the commander of the WoB forces on station. "How can a mere infidel knock away the blades of our most righteous warriors? How dare you think that you can defeat us!"

"Wow, now I know why you guys are always getting your asses kicked in combat." Fox replied as he dodged to avoid a shot from the Gladiator. He returned it with both his PPCs and it did a lot more damage than it usually would have. The Wobbie had stripped his Mech of armor, to the point it had almost none to speak of, and traded it all for the big guns. "Jeez, now I really know…" Fox said to himself.

"You shall pay for defying Blake's Will!" The Gladiator got ready for a second shot. Fox charged the Mech at full speed, again pulling out his katana. The commander fired everything his Mech had at Fox. A few lucky shots ripped up his armor as he dodged while still running. He returned fire and the shots hit the Mech's torso, unfortunately not in same place as the last hit. It didn't bother Fox as he continued charging. He was now only a few more steps from the commander as he stabbed the Gladiator through the side. The blade pierced the reactor and Fox used his jump jets to get away as the Mech started to buckle, caving in on itself as the reactor tried desperately not to explode.

Needless to say, it failed. Fox landed and turned back in time to see the Mech freeze up, and detonate as it fell to the ground. Fox swore he heard the remaining Wobbies scream as he fell.

Suddenly, the ground shook. Fox looked around to realize that all the other WoB soldiers had hit the self destruct for their Mechs. Several shadow company Mechs were caught in the blasts, but fortunately none were severely damaged.

"That looks like the end of em, sir." Cory said as he walked up next to Fox.

"So it would seem. All units secure the area; make sure no Blakist is left alive." Fox ordered as he started toward the command station.

"Thanks for the save Colonel, I just have one question. Who the hell are you?"

"That's info on a need to know basis only. Right now all _you_ need to know is that we'll be here for a little while until ComStar sends a relief unit. Until then my men need full access to the base."

"Ok… I can do that. How many Mechs?"

"We don't need to use your hangers, we have our own dropships."

"That's fine. What was your deal with ComStar regarding salvage?"

"We don't need any of these Mechs, besides, most of em are yours. But we will help you salvage them."

"Thanks. We could use more mercs like you… those your dropships?"

Fox looked up to see the five dropships coming in to land. "Ya, that's them. All Mechs return to your dropships for repair and refit. And get the salvage units ready."

**End Chapter 8**

Sorry about the shortness of this chapter, but now that they're mercs they probably won't get into any absolutely huge battles.

First quote, from the fanfiction story Star Fox: Mercenary Wars. "If you don't know what to expect, bring enough to kill anything"

And the second quote, "Don't worry about life; you're not going to survive it, anyway."

I decided to put in an extra quote for you guys. "A Purple Heart just proves that you were smart enough to think of a plan, stupid enough to try it, and lucky enough to survive." And this last one, I am not insulting anyone with a Purple Heart, I just thought it was funny at the time.

Review responses! I only got one though… Oh well! OgreWolf1: Thanks! Apparently I do better without my beta reader… And please don't hold it against me if I mess up on word usage, That always was my weak point in English…


	9. Chapter 9

**MechWarrior: Shadow Company**

Hello peoples! I got a viewer chapter today! This chapter brought to you by… RougeBaron! And also probably a few more chapters to come. Any way, let's get to the story!

**Chapter nine: The intro part I**

Fox was writing his report to the ComStar commander at about eight PM. They had arrived only a few weeks after the Shadows had taken back the facility. The company stayed on planet for a few days, then left to the jump point to await their next mission.

It was two o'clock in the morning and Fox was still up. He was busy securing the account that had been given to the company and it was taking a lot longer than he had expected, but then again, he _was_ adding a whole lot of extra security measures. He had come up with about two dozen separate passwords and actually created several seemingly useless pages where you would have to type in one of the passwords. However, he had set it up so you didn't need any of them to put money in, just to take some out.

Fox finalized everything at about six thirty and realized that everyone else was up and having breakfast. He decided to go get some himself and headed towards the cafeteria. As he walked in, the two vulparian guards on either side of the door snapped to attention and yelled "Colonel on deck!" Instantly the soldiers and crew stood at attention and saluted.

He sighed as he returned the salute, he hated formality. The others sat back down to their food as Fox made his way down the stairs. He reached the food line and grabbed a tray as the server got an omelet for him. He thanked him as he went to sit with his lance mates.

Eric was the first to spot him coming. He sat down next to Alison as it was the only seat available. "It's about time you got out of that room." Sergeant Williams said as he stuffed some eggs into his mouth. "What you been doing in there, anyway?"

"Just securing the account we were given. I think I reinvented the definition of online banking security though." He answered around some of his own eggs. A few minutes later an aide walked up to Fox and handed him a piece of paper. He thanked her and continued on with his breakfast, reading as he did so.

"Well? Are ya gonna tell us what it says or what?" Cory asked, one of the rare occasions he was actually interested in something.

"Hmm? Oh, sorry." He swallowed the last of his eggs before he replied. "It's saying that the order I put in for a vehicle dropship was received and authorized. It should be ready on Outreach by now. I ordered another ship besides that one, but apparently it isn't ready yet."

"Wait… I thought we only got ten-million for that last job. How did we afford another dropship?" Alison asked.

Sergeant Williams cut Fox off with his guess. "It must feel great to have the wealth of an empire to back you up, eh?"

"Well… my brother did say that I could still use the imperial account if I needed it, so, that's what I did."

"Oh, I get it. So when are we gonna go get this new ship, and who the hell is going to drive the vehicles? I don't know anyone onboard any of our ships that knows how to drive a tank."

"On the contrary Alison, most dropship crewmen know how to handle tanks, just as all vulparian ship crewmen are well trained in fighter piloting. And for the first question, today."

With that said Fox stood and left the mess hall, heading for the Bridge. He reached the Bridge in six minutes. It opened to reveal the only one there was the Captain. "Good morning Captain." Fox greeted her.

She jumped, startled to hear him. "Oh, sorry Colonel. I was just watching the other ships. I still find it amazing that our technologies are so different, yet compatible."

"I know, I used to be that way as well, before I joined the IS. But living on a human ship for so long has allowed me to get used to the tech. Anyway, I need to talk to Admiral Jacob. We need to make a quick jump to Outreach, to pick up a new dropship."

"Alright, I'll have a connection established in a few moments." She replied as she started typing.

A few seconds later and a hologram of Admiral Jacob appeared. "Yes Captain? Oh! Hello Colonel, what do ya need?"

"At least one ship needs to jump to Outreach to get a dropship, but I'd prefer if the whole fleet goes. Ya never know what we'll run into out there."

"I see some of yer sister's paranoia has rubbed off on ya." He said around a laugh.

"I like being ready for anything. Not to mention I kind of like her motto." He replied quietly.

"Excuse me?" Captain Roberts interrupted. "I don't know your sister. Mind telling me about her?"

"Sorry, Captain. My sister is extremely paranoid, and she was always armed-to-the-teeth, literally. If I remember correctly, she always carried four hand guns, two assault rifles, a collapsible rocket launcher, and a backpack stuffed full of ammo. She also wore three bullet/laser proof vests, at the same time, a SWAT helmet with a bullet/laser proof visor, and the same type of material the vests were made of on almost every inch of her body, tail included."

"Only now she wears cargo pants over that fabric, with ten pockets full of ammo, and a SWAT vest over _four_ other vests, each pocket jammed with a dozen packs of ammo." Admiral Jacob interrupted. "She has also passed assassin's training several times, and is teaching a class on how to avoid being assassinated."

"Wow… that is paranoid. I _really_ hope we don't have to fight someone like that, huh Fox?"

"I have that same hope, and her motto was, 'if you don't know what to expect, bring enough to kill anything'. Now that we're done with my sister, sound the jump alert, please."

"Right." Admiral Jacob answered as he cut the connection between the two ships. Fox and Captain Roberts buckled up and waited through the jump alert. A few seconds later and the Great Fox's jump drive activated.

AN: same as last time, I don't know of anything that could accurately describe a jump, so I'll skip that part, and from now on I will just put to show a jump has taken place. Back to the story!

The fleet exited the jump at the zenith jump point above Outreach, to see several jump ships at the refueling space station above the north pole, all bearing the insignia of the Brannigan family.

"Huh… that's weird." Captain Roberts commented.

"And what exactly would that be?" Fox asked.

"The Brannigans almost never leave New St. Andrews. Only when they need to hire mercs."

"Well, while we're on approach, tell me what we know about them."

"Uh… hold on." She was doing a search for anything about the Brannigans. Something posted on MercNet popped up as the most important. "Here we go! Let's see… They have quite a big amount of cash up for the elimination of the Ridinghood Cavaliers, another merc company employed by House MacGregor."

"Three questions. Who are these two Houses, what's their problem with each other, and exactly how much are the Brannigans willing to pay?"

"First, their some of the houses that control the planet New St. Andrews, four in total. Second, the four houses have constantly fought since they were established, mostly over farmland. Third, about one billion c-bills." She replied.

"That seems a little bit much for a house that controls only a-fourth of a planet to put up for the elimination of a single merc company. If we do take a job from them, we'll have to keep an eye on them." He was interrupted by beeping from the radio.

Captain Roberts answered it quickly and the transmitter started talking.

"This is refueling station twenty-seven to unidentified fleet. You have entered a de-militarized zone, and are ordered to power down your weapons." Fox noticed the turrets on the ships stop moving, Admiral Jacob was listening in and acted so Fox wouldn't have to interrupt the transmission.

"Please state your purpose for entering the area."

"I am here to receive a dropship that I was told was ready. The order was placed for Fox McCloud."

The lady on the station was a little nervous at speaking with him, but showed little to that effect. "Very well. Your dropship is waiting at this station. Please send a ship to connect with it." She closed the link and Fox saw the vulparian heavy cruiser called the Red Garnett, move forward to pick up the dropship.

Then, they got another transmission, this time though it was from the jump ships of House Brannigan. "This is Captain Jonathan Adams, of House Brannigan. You look like a merc company to me. Any interest in a job?"

"If you got the money to pay your price on MercNet." Fox replied.

"Ya we got the money." Fox could make out very quiet noises from the Brannigan ship but couldn't tell what they were. "And it's simple to get, all ya gotta do to get it, is wipe the Ridinghood Cavaliers off the face of the galaxy."

"Sounds easy enough, just one question. Why are you willing to shell out a billion C-bills just to kill a merc company?"

"Cause everyone we hire get their asses kicked as soon as they're on planet. Seems we got ourselves a rat."

"Hmmm… alright, we'll take the job." He heard their ship's crew start yelling. "However!" The yelling died down. "If you don't pay up on time, consider yourselves screwed. Colonel McCloud, out." With that he cut the link and looked at Captain Roberts. "What?"

"Nothing, I just never thought you'd _actually_ threaten someone over money."

"Well, we have to keep our cover as mercs, don't we? And besides, we can assume if they don't pay us, then they probably will want us dead so we can't talk to MercNet about it."

"Ya, I guess, it's just weird."

A transmission cut through their conversation. "This is Captain Johnson, of the Red Garnett. The dropship has been secured and we are returning to the fleet. They were even nice enough to load it with some of the best equipment I've ever seen. Transmitting list of equipment."

A list appeared on the main view screen. "Let's see… a lance of Kelswa assault tanks, another of Glory Fire support tanks, one more of Challengers, and a scout lance of Shamashes." The captain rattled off.

"Excellent." Fox remarked. "Now about the Ridinghood Cavaliers, what kind of numbers are we talking about here?"

"Well, we got three Mech lances, two tank lances, a transport lance, two platoons of Mechanized Infantry, and a platoon of _Grenadiers_."

"Aright, we can handle this. We have five groups of three Mech lances, a company of Elementals, and four lances of tanks. We have them outgunned, now we just have to outsmart them."

"That's right, or out train them." Captain Roberts offered.

"Admiral, how long until we can make a second jump?"

"The ships have backup batteries, they can jump twice in a matter of seconds, but since we already made one jump…"

"Right. We wait until we're able to double jump, then head to New St. Andrews."

**End**

Alright! That is the end of this chapter! Thank you RougeBaron for the idea, I promise to make it last! Review responses!

To: ShadrachVS, I told this to RougeBaron in an Email but I should tell everyone. We are assuming the Mjolnir got it's guns blown to hell in the charge, and the Hatchetman is the variant that has no other weapons. Now for the next issue, arty. In my sources the clans did use arty against the IS before, but they just sucked at it. So I figured that after that they would have trained in its use and would be using it in any big battle against IS forces. Next, sorry about God mode, but All my lance mates are my friends in real life, and I took a risk taking Eric down and not giving him his LAN back… and thanks for that lesson in details, I'll put em' to good use in the next chapter.

Now for, J Ryder 0: A vulpine is a human-like-fox, basically a fox on its hind feet and as smart or smarter than humans. Thanks for the review!

Quote time! "If you die in an elevator, be sure to push the Up button."

Alright, question. Should I make another MechWarrior story focusing on a Clan that I made up? Review me and say either way please.

As always, review me!


	10. Chapter 10

**MechWarrior: Shadow Company**

Hello again! This is once again a reviewer chapter… same person. And I found out something very interesting… an Overlord dropship actually can carry FORTY FIVE MECHS! But I already said that the dropships can only carry four lances, and that's what I'm going to stick with. On to the story!

**Chapter ten: Intro part II**

The fleet arrived at a pirate jump point above New St. Andrews. They slowed their ships to barely a crawl in preparation of an attack. The turrets were swinging wildly as they scanned the area for anything that could have been dangerous. Even though Fox hadn't requested it, the shield was drawing every extra volt of power from the reactor that it could without risking an explosion.

Fox and Alison had been given specially made full body coolant suits, that also acted as light armor against any shrapnel. Fox was securing his helmet as he walked toward the briefing room. By the time he was there, he had figured it out and put the visor up.

He walked in to see his fellow mercenaries sitting or standing around the large room. Cory was off in a corner, Alison was sitting patiently in a chair, and Eric was talking with Sergeant Williams of Alpha lance. The others were gathered around a little arm-wrestling match between Major Layton and Sergeant Joshua, both of whom were in Fire lance.

Alison looked over at Fox, then at the others and scrapped her claws along the table to get their attention. Needless to say, it worked, and they also saw Fox. They immediately broke off the match, and sat down quickly.

It took Fox a second to get the pain out of his ears from Alison's stunt, but soon enough he started forward, toward the head of the holo-table. He reached it and typed in a few commands, bringing the other ships into the meeting. He greeted the other warriors and started up the holo-table.

"Alright, this is the planet we're going to be landing on, and fighting on for hopefully not too long." He zoomed in on a large space port. As the others looked, they could see that it had seen quite a bit of action. Small craters littered the ground and scans showed they were slightly radioactive, indicating a reactor had detonated in that spot.

The seven landing zones designated for the Shadow dropships lit up as Fox talked. "These are the landing zones of our ships. We have info that our employers have a rat somewhere, so we can expect the LZ to be hot."

The map went three dimensional as it showed the dropships hovering above the drop spots. It then showed the gantries opening on the five Overlords and several Mechs jumping out. "Some of us are to perform a hot drop, all of you chosen for this have been notified, correct?" When they had nodded Fox continued. "Good. Your mission is to secure the LZ of your dropship, although some will have to go help the tanks' ship touch down."

The hologram then showed a light fire fight as the dropships touched down. "Once the dropships are down, the rest of the Mechs will exit and join the fight, if there is one that is. The shamashes will take off out of the tank transport, and provide locations of any enemies they find, and if they're just infantry, they'll take em on. If all else fails and we take too many casualties, we pull back into the dropships and let them return fire as we get whatever repairs we can. Then jump back into the fray."

He shut off the holo-table. "We won't get any air or orbital support, cause we're in a port. Other than that, any questions?" He looked around, no one was raising their hand. "Alright, admiral. How long till we can deploy?"

"Right about… now. We're right over the LZ. Detaching dropships, good hunting."

They felt the dropship come loose from the Great Fox and start to head towards the planet. Fox dismissed the others and headed for his Hatamoto, his lance following.

When they reached the hanger, they saw a squad of Elementals positioned in it. Fox explained that they were there to protect the ship from boarding parties. They reached their Mechs and started the climb up.

As they powered up, the ship hit some turbulence, though it was out quickly. As the Gantry lowered, Alison got ready for the jump, and performed it perfectly.

She hit the ground in a crouch, guns level and sweeping the space port… nothing. The other Mechs touched down in the same position, and they didn't see anything either. She keyed her comm. link. "I don't see anything Samurai. Just a barren space port… wait." She zoomed in on what, to anyone else, looked like a black dot.

However to her, it was something very, very dangerous. She looked around and sure enough, there were more of them. "Holy, shit! All units evac, evac! Dropships get us the hell out of here!"

"What's goin on down there Shadow Cat?" Fox asked, very nervous.

"They rigged this place, that's what! This whole damn place is gonna blow to hell with us in it if we don't get out now!"

Fox started sending out orders immediately, and the tank ship pulled out fast. The others had to wait for their Mechs to get back in. Alison was the first one in, as the others jumped to get out as quick as possible. Within seconds they were pulling out of the space port, and as they reached a safe altitude, the entire area they had just escaped from blew in an amazing fireball. The Ridinghood Cavaliers didn't take any lives, but they kept Shadow Company off the planet a little longer.

**End Chapter**

Alright, short chapter I know… But I hit writer's block half way through the damn thing and I figured, eh, what the hell, this is as good a place to stop the chapter as I'll be able to think of. Review responses!

df: nice name… anyway, I'm still working on this story, this is as far as I've gotten.

Yay! Ogerwolf1, your back! Ahem… sorry. Anyway, ya I think that's what I'll do. And keep reviewing me! Please, I beg of you!

Quote time! "Teamwork is essential; it gives the enemy other people to shoot at."

Review me!


	11. Chapter 11

**MechWarrior: Shadow Company**

Hello again. I'm not in a great mood right now so bear with me. I'll try not to let that mess up the story though.

**Chapter 11: Intro Part III**

The days ticked by slowly as Fox tried to come up with ways to get on planet. Each time they tried the Ridinghood Cavaliers set up some way to stop them. They were lucky though, they had only lost seven Elementals and a Shamash.

"Damn it!" Fox yelled as he slammed his fist on a table. He had done some research and found the only thing the Cavaliers couldn't set a trap for was a hot-drop into the MacGregor capital and assault them from there. The problem was that they had defenses in the capital _besides_ the Cavaliers. The computer tried every possible attack pattern in its database and was still coming out with at least fifty percent losses.

Then he thought of something, they could set up camp in the arctic and not tell their employers. If they had set up traps in the comfortable areas of the planet before they had gotten there, then they would not have been able, or not willing, to set them up in inhospitable conditions.

He quickly started a MAG scan of the artic and found that nothing but ice was up there. "Excellent." He keyed the admiral.

"Yes?"

"Admiral, we need to get positioned above the arctic ASAP. But only once we're ready to deploy."

"Got it. I'll tell the other captains. Out."

He got up from his computer and started for the Bridge. The elevator lifted him up quickly and he was surprised at what he saw. Normally Captain Roberts ran the ship alone, but now the whole command crew was there.

"Captain." He addressed her.

"Ah, Colonel. I thought that with the problems getting on planet I should have the command crew up and working. So, what can I do for you?"

"We need to get everyone up and in their Mechs. We're going to land in the arctic."

"Sounds like a plan to me." She keyed the other dropships and locked into their speakers. "This is Captain Roberts; all combatants are to prepare for touchdown immediately."

A few minutes later and the dropships were burning towards the arctic. The Elemental dropship touched down first, then the tanks, the others following shortly. The ships touched down in a pentagon formation, surrounding the two without weapons. A quick scan showed that no traps, or even life forms, were in the area.

Fox quickly set up the recon unit to patrol the area; chances were that the Cavaliers would want to take them out ASAP. The Shamashes were sticking together, while Tango lance, the recon lance lead by Major Pain, formed up and went out a little further than the tanks.

Within the hour, camp had been established and was guarded by Elementals. Now Fox had to think of a way to beat the Cavaliers in battle. He thought of issuing a challenge, then tossed that away; it was a merc company they were fighting, not the clans.

Finally he decided to start burning MacGregor's farm land, then the Cavaliers would be called out to defend the land. He started setting up plans, using the Elementals as his means of attack. They would hot drop over the selected fields and start using their flamers to burn them. Then, they'd start moving back towards the Brannigan boundaries, in a pattern that would be obvious to trace, leading the Cavaliers into a trap set up by Shadow Company. He realized they wouldn't commit everything they had to chase a bunch of infantry, but it would bring down some of them.

Suddenly all the lights on the ship started flashing red, and an ear piercing siren sounded. "All personnel, unidentified Mechs have been sighted in the area. All combatants prepare for battle. Ship crewmen report to your battle stations."

Fox quickly saved his plan and ran towards the Mech hanger. He got there the same time his lancemates did. They shared a look and bolted for their Mechs, they were online in minutes. Fox brought up his HUD and took some time to think. It looked as if only one lance was attacking, but he assumed that they would have support personnel, and possibly armor units.

"All Elementals stay on alert, Vehicles mobilize and protect the camp, Command unit follow me, everyone else, stay behind and protect the camp." Fox ordered as he did a weapons check and started moving to where Tango lance was engaged with the enemy lance. His Hatamoto wasn't as fast as his Griffin, but he made due with its jump jets. Alison and Cory were the only ones to keep up with him as the others were bogged down in the snow and ice.

The three crested the ridge to see more than they were expecting. It looked like _two_ lances were ganging up on Tango lance, one apparently had ECM suits. Fox didn't wait, he opened fire on the nearest enemy Mech with both PPCs. The Locust stumbled and fell with the hit, but he wasn't down for good. The four larger Mechs turned as one and opened fire on him, but the shots were poorly aimed and missed; some hitting the snow bank, others flying past the Mech.

It was then that Alison and Cory jumped from cover, firing everything they had at the Mechs. Cory focused his shots on a Centurion, lasers slamming into the Mech's arm cannon, and LRMs blowing its other arm off at the joint. Alison's lasers turned a Crab's shoulder armor into slag, while her auto cannons crushed the gun in its chest. Fox added his PPCs into the mix and targeted a Hoplite he knew to belong to the fire lance's commander. The blue lightning melted the armor off part of its chest, the heat from the blast made its way into the Mech's missile rack and caused the explosion that followed.

Fortunately for the pilot, his Mech was equipped with a CASE system, so the damage wasn't deadly. The Mech did fall however and Fox was hit by a missile salvo from nowhere. "Damn it! Activate AMS!" He yelled into the radio, then got hit by an LBX round fired from the Centurion. The shot damaged his chest armor, but it held.

By this time the other command Mechs had arrived and started pummeling the Cavalier Mechs. The Locust Fox had damaged earlier went down from Eric's twin PPCs and LBX cannon. Tango lance quickly pulled out, covered by the command unit. They had taken some heavy damage, but their training had kept them alive.

When the Centurion fell from Sergeant Williams' Emperor, the other Cavalier Mechs started pulling out. Fox made sure to make every shot count and fired an Alpha Strike on the remaining Locust. He focused on the chest and soon his PPCs had stripped the armor and hit the reactor, the Mech fell down as the pilot ejected, but didn't blow.

As the last Cavalier Mech left their line-of-sight Fox radioed Tango lance. "Major Pain, come in. What's your status, over?"

"We took a lot of damage, but we're fine." He replied, though it was filled with static.

"Alright, get back to your ship and get repaired. I give you permission to take a break as well. Have Delta lance take over your patrol."

"Roger that."

"Everyone else, get back to the camp, but stick together. We don't know if their command lance is out here."

They got back to camp to realize that there had been an attack on the dropships. The infantry of the Cavaliers had tried to take a dropship but the Elementals had repelled the attempt. He ordered the other recon lance, Monroe's lance, to patrol near the camp along with the Shamashes.

Fox was getting back into his armor after a shower, he had decided he was comfortable in it, when someone knocked. "Ya?" He asked as he finished putting on the top part.

"I still have some questions about your ships, Colonel." She smiled.

"Fire away." He sighed, putting the helmet on and flipping the visor up.

"I saw the Great Fox had a quad set of fixed guns, what are they? I don't recognize them as any kind of weapon I'm familiar with."

"They're an upgraded version of the PPC called _charged_ particle projection cannons. They have twice the power of a Naval Heavy PPC, but also twice the recoil. Because of that they can't be mounted on turrets, they'd blow them off the ship. We're working on lowering the recoil." He said with a smile.

"Huh, how do the reactors power all the weapons at once?"

"Basically the power is being multiplied hundreds of times using magnets. Also the reactors themselves are state-of-the-art for vulparians; they put out about twice as much power as a human reactor of the same size and weight."

"Nice. Well, I have to get back to the bridge and watch the radar. See ya, fuzz ball." She said with a smile, then left.

Fox smiled and shook his head as he stood up. "I wish I understood humans better."

"So do I." Fox didn't hear anyone approach and reacted on instinct, dropping to the ground and pulling his blaster in one movement. Alison went completely still, staring down the barrel of Fox's weapon.

He stood and sighed, replacing his blaster in its holster. "Sorry, I guess I'm a little on edge."

"Remind me never to sneak up on you again." She finally relaxed. "I was just going to get something to eat. I saw the captain leaving and heard you, so I just stopped by."

"Go on ahead, I'll be there eventually." He sighed. When she had left he closed his door and put down the helmet's visor. He bowed to no one and started going through hand-to-hand combat moves. He had a feeling he would need to use them soon.

A half an hour later he left to get some breakfast. He ate and returned to his room, to go over his plan-of-attack. He finalized it and went to sleep.

The mission was set for next week, and Tango lance was repaired and out on patrol. Fox was putting the rest of the company through intensive training in the simulators, getting them ready for the battle against the Cavaliers.

They had just gotten finished with a difficult mission, when the alarms started going off, again. "Just great." Fox sighed as he started running for the hanger.

"How many do you think it is this time, Fox?" Alison asked as she put her visor down.

"Hard to say, maybe the whole company, maybe just the recon lance." He replied, doing the same.

They powered up their Mechs and headed for the battle field. They decided to stick together and found the battle rather easily, but it wasn't the Cavaliers. "Who the hell are they?" Eric yelled.

Fox zoomed in on one of the Mechs. "Looks like MacGregor units, the Cavaliers must still be recovering from their last showdown with us." He replied as he fired at a Flea, his two PPCs ripping apart the tiny Mech and blowing it sky high.

The other Shadow Mechs also opened fire; Fire lance lead blasted a Wolverine with his Gauss Rifle and lasers. The force of the hit knocked the lighter Mech over, leaving it open for the LRMs to rip the armor to shreds. It wasn't dead, but a blast of missiles from Susan's Vulture finished it off.

The other MacGregor units survived the first barrage and returned fire. A Crab's laser melting some armor off Fox's shoulder. As usual Alison didn't get hit, but Cory took a nasty shot to the arm, blowing one of his lasers to pieces.

Suddenly Fox heard a whistling sound and recognized it immediately. "Incoming Arty! Everyone…!" Was all he could get out, before everything went black.

**End Chapter 11**

I told ya I wasn't in a good mood. I didn't get any reviews this time... damn.

Now for the quote. "Try to look unimportant; the enemy may be low on ammo and not want to waste a bullet on you."

Now, Review me!


	12. Chapter 12

**MechWarrior: Shadow Company**

Hey! I don't have much to say right now so let's just get onto the story, shall we?

**Chapter 12**

Fox awoke to find himself still strapped into his command couch. "What the…?" He mumbled, trying to remember what had happened. After a few minutes regaining his memories, he unstrapped from his couch and dropped to the ground; which was actually the back of the cockpit.

As he knelt there he checked himself for injuries. His paws were in good shape, and his tail wasn't to badly damaged. He checked his head to find a small trail of blood creeping its way down his ears. He simply ignored it; the armor had done its job of keeping the shrapnel from damaging anything major.

He stood up and opened a compartment near the hatch. In it he kept a high-powered-double-barreled-shotgun, and an assault rifle. He jumped up, back into his couch, and used his claws to cut a hole in the glass. He put his gloves back on and climbed out onto the face of his Mech.

Even though he was in the arctic he was warm, thanks to his fur, as he climbed down to look at the damage. It looked like a Long Tom shell had hit the chest dead center, but it didn't have enough power to blow the reactor; just shut it down permanently.

He sighed and checked his radio… dead. "Just great…" He jumped down to the ground; and was met with a Cavalier Grenadier. He was looking away from Fox, who took the opportunity to practice his martial arts. He snuck up behind the man and, very carefully and quickly, grabbed his head and snapped the neck, grabbing the body as it fell.

He climbed back up into the cockpit, grabbed a can of spray paint from another compartment, and sprayed his tail, ears, and paws white. "Why I didn't think of this sooner I'll never know." He sighed. He didn't need to spray his armor; it was already as white as the snow.

He got back out of the downed Mech, after he placed the dead man in the command couch, and started running for the camp, rifle low but ready to be brought up if he saw anything.

With his make-shift camo he got pretty far, before the sun went down. He spotted the remains of an APC and ducked inside. It was banged up but still kept out most of the snow. He moved some of it into a pile, then curled up like his ancestors used to, and went to sleep.

As he woke he heard voices and kept as still as he could. He could make out two voices, one was disrupted by a suit of battle armor.

"I know whatever it was went in here! I saw its footprints!"

"Well it's not here now, is it?"

It was then the first person decided to kick the pile of snow in front of him; it just happened to be the one Fox was hiding in. He yelped in spite of himself, then tried to keep quiet. "Hey, you hear that?"

"I sure did!" Fox heard the safety of a weapon being released and sprang from cover, kicking and twisting his claws into the unarmored one. Fox ignored the other man and bolted out of the door, trying to make them think he was a wild animal or something.

Once he was outside he ran like hell, he got almost a mile away before he slowed down; panting. With the armor on he was slowed down and it was harder to run at top speed.

He got up after a few minutes of catching his breath and spotted an APC coming up fast. "Wonderful…" He moaned and started running; maybe he could get close enough to camp that his friends could get to him in time.

Back at the camp everyone was on full alert as the majority of the company was out searching for Fox. Cory was made temporary commander during the search. He was reading reports on the bridge when Captain Roberts walked in, a saddened look on her face. Cory looked up long enough to ask her a question. "Anything?"

"Something at least. The search crews found Fox's Mech. His personal weapons are gone and there was a Cavalier's body sitting in the command couch. They couldn't find any paw prints but that's obvious with the snow." She sighed and sat down in the captain's chair, rubbing her temples.

They sat in silence until Alison came in, ears lying to the sides. "My group couldn't find anything." She growled. "I wish we knew where the hell he is. It's making all the crew upset. One even asked if he could take a transport and some infantry to search." She sat down in an abandoned seat and sighed.

Eric walked in a few minutes later. "Well, I have some good news and I have some bad news."

"The good news first, please. I think we could all use some uplifting news, even if it's only for a few seconds." Alison sighed, ears straightening.

"We found where he slept last night." Captain Roberts sighed in relief. "We found his paw prints in one of the Cavalier's APCs we blew out of commission. And now for the bad news… we also found blood."

"…Shit." Was all that was said between the four. Then Cory started giving orders.

"We have to find where he is, now. Alison, you're the best at this kind of thing. Find out if the Cavaliers have him; do whatever it takes. I don't care if you have to sneak into an enemy camp and capture someone to get that info."

"Right." She started towards the door while whispering. "It's about time I got to use my training for what it was meant for."

The others ignored her as Cory continued giving orders. "Eric, I need you to take the rest of the Mechs and start a search around that APC. Get everyone to spread out as much as possible and search until one of you comes within sight of this camp."

"I'm on it." He bolted out the door towards the hanger.

"What do I do?"

"You stay here with me and keep an eye on the scanners. Tell me if anything like a life signal shows up in range. We'll keep the Elementals here to help rescue if he does show up."

Captain Roberts nodded and turned to her controls, putting all unnecessary power into the sensors. With that power boost they would be able to detect a single life form the size of a person from about five miles away.

As Eric powered up his machine he turned to the Mech frequency. "All Mechs, we're goin to look for Fox. Form up on my lead and keep up." With that he thundered down the gantry with amazing speed for an Assault Mech. The rest of the company's Mechs followed close behind, easily keeping up with him.

As they started the trek to Fox's last known location, he thought back about his past…

This particular memory was one he hated, yet couldn't stop thinking about. He was in his sibko, along with the other three remaining sibkin of the twenty. He remembered that day as the day his 'brother' nearly killed him. As the four of them climbed into their Mechs, they saluted each other.

He and his 'brother' were about to take their final test; the Trial of Position, the same as their two other sibkin. They marched their Mechs out into the field, where six Clan Wolf MechWarriors waited for them. They stopped their machines and stood at the ready positions.

He couldn't remember any of the 'official' trial, just the worst part. They had finished the last warrior, each killing three opponents and passing the trial easily. Apparently that wasn't enough for his 'brother'. As he turned to congratulate his fellow warrior, a laser slammed into the chest of his Cougar. He recovered quickly to find his 'brother' launching a swarm of missiles from his own Cougar's shoulder launchers.

Eric was too stunned to dodge as the missiles slammed into his chest. He came out of it as they detonated and fired his lasers, his shots hitting some weakened armor on the leg, damaging the knee actuator housed there but not destroying it. Another laser hit no more than a meter from Eric's cockpit.

He was surprised to say the least, but fired his remaining missiles at his 'brother' anyway. Most hit the previously damaged actuator, causing it to seize. The others hit the armor that remained around the knee.

Crippling the Mech made his 'brother' even angrier. He fired a single laser straight into Eric's Mech's head, melting the glass and controls, and nearly killing Eric from the heat. Instead it merely knocked him unconscious for a few seconds. Without a mind to manipulate the stabilizing gyros, the Mech fell forward with a crushing thud.

As Eric regained consciousness he heard the warrior in charge of the Trials make his way onto the field, yelling at the warrior who had turned against his sibkin. As the Elementals pried open Eric's cockpit they discovered he was still alive and called in a field medic. They carefully pulled him out of the cockpit and placed him on a stretcher. That was about when he passed out from the pain.

He was brought out of his memories by a loud crash and found he had tripped over the transport. He cursed quietly and pulled his Mech from the snow. He apologized to the rest of the unit and started dividing them up to begin the search. He decided that reminiscing was not a good idea while piloting his Mech, and focused on the task at hand.

Cory got up from his seat and made his way to the comm. station. He put on the headphones and keyed in a general frequency. "This is recon zero-zero-four to any receiving unit. Please respond. I say again; please respond." He waited a few seconds and repeated this message.

After the second transmission he got a response. "What's goin on over there Mitch? You in some kind of trouble?"

He startled when he realized his scam was actually working. "Ya… I just got to that Mech and no one's there; the pilot's up and missing. Do any of our units have him?"

"Now Mitch… you know I can't give out that kind of info… but tell ya what, I'll give ya a hint. No one else has been sent out to that Mech. Hope that does it for ya. Shit… I gotta go; you know how the brass is when we get our collective asses kicked twice in a row. Out."

"Well that helps out a lot, and now they know Fox is alive. They'll be searching for him also." Captain Roberts remarked.

"Ya, I thought they may have already known… but it was worth a shot." Cory responded. About thirty minutes later something came over his headphones.

"This is…ox. I'm… my way to…amp. … being followed." Then a loud explosion interrupted by static cut off the voice.

"Fuck! Can we track that signal?" Cory yelled up to the captain.

"Working on it!"

Meanwhile Cory got on the force frequency. "Alert! We have possible contact with Fox! All personnel are to prepare for emergency rescue operations!"

"Done! We are locked on!"

The alarms went off as a life form and reactor signature were detected on the scanners. "Transports two-three-seven and two-four-eight; load up with Elementals and head out to the following coordinates." Cory ordered as he keyed in the location.

"We're on it!"

Alison heard the order and joined up with the transports before they left. She jumped in the back hatch just as it closed, AP rifle in hand. She held onto one of the ceiling rails as the transports rocketed out of the hanger doors full throttle.

As they neared the site they realized that there were _two_ enemy vehicles that had caught up with Fox, both transports. The Shadow trucks spun around and dropped their gates a moment later. Alison and the Elementals jumped out quickly and had to stare at what they were seeing.

The Cavalier infantry men had obviously been ordered to capture Fox alive as they weren't using any kind of weapons. Instead they were charging him to fight hand-to-hand. There was easily twenty soldiers trying to catch the fox, but every time one got close enough to hit him they were either kicked in the gut or had a knee suddenly implanted into their face.

Alison was the first to come out of the trance. "We fight hand-to-hand! Move!" She charged the crowd and, not having her armor at the time, slashed one man's neck open with her claws. The blood sprayed out and alerted some of the other soldiers, who then tried to attack her. Until, that is, they saw the Elementals approaching fast. At that point they decided their lives were better lost elsewhere and ran like hell for their transports.

They didn't get very far. Not having been ordered to hold fire, the Shadow transports shot the retreating men as they neared their transports.

At the end of this little skirmish only five Cavaliers were left alive while none of the Elementals were even hurt. Alison approached Fox slowly, still unnerved about what happened yesterday.

He was sitting down in a small pile of snow, helmet off and head bowed. "Fox? You OK?"

He looked up and smiled slightly. "Ya, just… I _never_ want to be 'hunted' again."

"I guess you wouldn't, being a fox. Come on, let's get back to camp." She activated her radio to update Cory. "Alison here, Fox is safe. Get something warm on the table soon, and have a medic standing by; just in case."

"Roger that!" Cory replied.

**End Chapter 12**

I know, short chapter. But I hit writer's block half way through this thing and had to force myself to sit at the computer instead of playing my GBA… or reading some Battletech novels. On to reviews!

RougeBaron: Yay! Thank you! I finally have some actual improvement! I'll try to keep up with your hopes… Quote!

"To learn to succeed, you must first learn to fail." Michael Jordan

Review Me!


	13. Chapter 13

**MechWarrior: Shadow Company**

Hello again everybody! Amazingly I have a new mission for the company after this part of the story dries up, but I'll try and make it last as long as possible. I'm also going to try something new, namely putting in sections of the story that follow others in the lance. Wow… I had a lot to say this time! On to the story!

**Chapter 13**

Following Fox…

Fox sat as still and quietly as he could, waiting for the medic to finish his inspection. "Well sir. From what I see you're as healthy as you can be for just being hit by artillery. Aside from that hole in your ear you're perfectly healthy. I'll just clean that and you'll be free to go." He got out some sterilizing alcohol and Fox sighed; resigning himself to the fact that it had to be cleaned.

He gritted his teeth as the alcohol burned his skin, cleaning the wound and sealing it at the same time. He had to marvel at the alcohol available to clean things with; the sterilizing type cleaned away every germ it touched and if applied to wounds it would seal them for easier healing. He stood as the medic replaced the alcohol on a shelf to thank him. He simply waved his hand and said he was just doing his job, but Fox made sure to give him a small bonus with his next paycheck.

He left the medical bay on the _Kitsune_ and headed for the officer's hall for something to eat. Normally he would have waited until lunch to eat but his friends had insisted he get something as soon as he was done in the med. bay. As he walked in Eric caught him a hug, surprising him completely. Cory decided to play up Fox's return a little and turned to the officers in the hall; shouting as loud as he could. "Colonel on deck!" At which every officer there stood as one and saluted.

Fox finally managed to get free of Eric and quickly returned the salute. As they returned to a normal stance they started clapping, Fox didn't understand but Eric quickly told him that his Mech had gone down deep in enemy territory, which was why they had to pull out without him.

He made his way down the stairs and had a plate handed to him by Alison. She smiled and made a way through the crowd of people in the room. Fox noticed that it wasn't only officers there, men and women of the crew and tech teams along with some lower ranking soldiers were there also.

As he neared the serving line he saw something he rarely saw; his favorite food. "Chikuzenni!" He nearly shouted but controlled himself enough it was only a whisper. He accepted a bowlful of the steaming stew graciously, and was followed by almost everybody. They sat a little cramped in the small room, but they were happy that their commander was back.

Fox ate quietly, talking to those that talked to him, but keeping his statements short. The only ones he talked to extensively were his lancemates. They asked him of his plan to draw out the Cavaliers, what he would do now that his Hatamoto was out of commission, and how he liked the chikuzenni. He had to laugh at that last one. Most of lunch Fox saw Alison was filing her claws; still slightly bloody.

They finished lunch as usual and Fox put almost everybody in the simulators; to get them ready for the ambush he had planned. He had to modify it slightly to accommodate the fact he was using his Griffin, but it pretty much stayed the same.

The days passed quickly with very little activity up in the arctic. He had made sure their drop-zone for the ambush wasn't rigged before hand, so the landing was easy. About a day ago the Elementals had started implementing their attack orders and burned some of the farm land of the MacGregors.

Now they were running towards the ambush site and burning any fields belonging to the MacGregors. Fox estimated they would run past his position in a few minutes. He was near the back of the circle of attack. The rest of the units were stationed in a semicircle around a clearing. The front units sent word they had visuals of enemy Mechs coming in fast, along with vehicles and infantry. Fox was surprised, then realized they would have brought in reinforcements from the MacGregor's forces instead of using only their own.

As the Elementals ran past Fox, the flanking units reported the last enemy unit had entered the area of effect. He gave the signal and the company came out of passive sensors. The enemy units stopped in their tracks as the first volley of fire came from the Shadow Mechs. Their orders were to blow the transports before the infantry could unload.

They followed that order to the letter. A pair of PPCs blasted one APC's side off and a missile salvo blew the rest of the transport to hell and back. The other two transports didn't fare much better. After the first volley only one transport still functioned, but only because the reactor hadn't blown.

"Targets down, take out the big ones!" Fox yelled, firing his rifle at and hitting an LRM launcher's missile rack. The missiles detonated; destroying the vehicle and damaging the closest Mechs, namely a Wasp and the Hoplite Fox had nearly killed last time.

The Cavaliers fired back, concentrating on the weaker targets; the Sha Yu from Major Pain's scout lance was the first to go down. A Marauder's PPCs slammed into its chest, followed shortly by another, then by the same Mech's Gauss Rifle. The PPCs slagged away the armor, while the depleted uranium shell pierced what was left and slammed through the reactor and into the rear armor. Needless to say, the reactor detonated before the pilot knew what had hit him. The explosion destroyed a section of the forest, leaving a few Shadow Mechs revealed.

Next to fall was an Enforcer III from Major Sky's lance. It took a Warhammer's PPCs in the head, blowing it clean off and knocking the Mech over. A Bushwacker from Sky's lance was also destroyed; hit by forty missiles from an Archer. The force of the explosion knocked the Mech back several steps before the reactor finally exploded.

The Shadow Mechs broke from cover, seeing it wasn't really working anyway. Instead they started using evasive maneuvers, firing when they had the chance. Alison's lasers turned the remaining armor on the Wasp's leg into slag. The lasers were quickly followed by her Auto Cannon shells, they hit the insides of the leg and ricochet around, destroying the leg actuator and cutting some myomer; rendering the leg completely useless.

Fox took a second to see what they were up against. It seemed all but one of the remaining Cavalier Mechs were here. The missing Mech was the Gladiator piloted by the Cavalier's CO. He wondered why that was the only Mech missing, then realized that when he called to check on the LZ status, he must have alerted the informant for the MacGregors. They were trying to flank the unsuspecting Shadow forces with units from House MacGregor!

"All units stay alert! Chances of flanking have just reached an all-time high!" He switched to passive sensors as he said this, telling the others to do the same. They quickly obeyed, and their radar signatures vanished.

Now the Cavalier Mechs didn't know where the Shadow Mechs were, so they formed a defensive circle and fired where they thought Mechs were. Fox's units regrouped and fired another well-aimed volley. A Shadow Hawk was hit several times in the chest and shoulders. The lasers from the Rabid Coyote flashed across the smaller Mech's chest, melting armor and piercing into its core, shutting down the reactor and knocking the Mech over, as the Mech fell it crushed a Vedette.

The Hoplite managed to get off a PPC blast before a Lynx's PPC melted the weapon closed, leaving it only with missiles. It didn't get to use that weapon though, as an emerald beam of energy slashed into the rack, setting off the missiles. The explosion was incredibly loud as the Mech stumbled backwards, tripping over the burnt out remains of a transport. Fox fired his rifle at it and nicked the reactor, he had been aiming to blow the Mech sky high but had to settle for just shutting it down.

He was suddenly hit from behind and stumbled forward, falling on his face. He shook his head as he sounded the alarm. "All units, we have been flanked! Keep an eye out for enemy units!" He stood back up, and realized it hadn't been a ranged attack that hit him. He turned around and gasped as he stared up at the hundred ton Gladiator that had slammed him into the ground.

The Mech easily stood a story taller than his own, but he pulled his sword just the same. "Now, now; are foxes not supposed to run when being hunted?" The pilot laughed.

Fox answered by dropping his gun and slashing the Gladiator across the abdomen, scoring some armor damage but nothing major. "I am no ordinary fox." He said calmly, stepping into a ready stance.

"All the more fun. Griffin pilot; I, Parker Kerensky, challenge you to honorable combat."

"I accept your challenge Kerensky, but the first move is mine!" Fox responded, charging the Mech. He was unprepared for this maneuver and was unable to dodge. Fox scored a glancing blow to the Mech's arm. He quickly turned his Mech in an attempt to make a second strike, but the wet earth prevented this and Kerensky was able to turn around before he hit.

Kerensky fired his lasers; his Gauss Rifle was inoperable due to Fox's prior attack. To avoid being hit full in the chest Fox brought his sword up and was able to deflect one laser back at Kerensky and send the other off into the forest. It was a lucky block, but Fox took advantage of it; running in and dealing a more powerful blow to the Mech's torso. It tore through the armor and into the chassis, but was unable to penetrate the reactor.

The laser Fox had sent back at Kerensky had struck him in the shoulder; not doing much damage. As Fox ran passed his rifle he stooped quickly to grab it, firing off a random shot at Kerensky to distract him. It didn't work, and Fox was hit in the shoulder by one of the Gladiator's lasers. The armor was melted, but otherwise it held. Fox took note of this and remembered to have some Vulparian Mech armor sent to him after this mission, if he survived it.

Fox let loose several shots, all bouncing off Kerensky's armor harmlessly. He finally got into some decent cover and tried to flank Kerensky; by turning around and hiding where his opponent had been looking. Kerensky knew Fox was trying to flank him, and turned around to face him when he came.

Fox smiled as he ran up behind the giant and started a succession of slashes to his back. He made sure to stay behind Kerensky as he continuously turned to get at him. Fox was able to deal some massive damage before Kerensky managed to get off a shot. The emerald beams of energy melted Fox's gun barrel closed, but otherwise the damage was light. Fox quickly tossed away his rifle and charged Kerensky again.

Instead of going for a glancing blow he tried to take Kerensky down, he brought up his katana and ran it point first into the Mech's chest; trying to pierce the reactor. He succeeded, but Kerensky was able to eject before the reactor detonated. "It would appear the fox has become the _hunter_, instead of the hunted." Kerensky complimented as his ejection pod flew away from the forest.

Fox smiled as he turned back to the battle around him. He had lost his only ranged weapon, so he decided to go back to his training as a swordsman. He spotted an enemy Mech and charged; slashing the Phoenix Hawk across the back; cutting through its jump jets and setting off the fuel. The jets launched the Mech off the ground and brought it crashing down on its head; crushing the cockpit and killing the pilot instantly.

He didn't stop moving as he saw a Blitzkrieg moving along the forest. He stabbed into the Mech's center and pulled it out as the explosion ripped the Mech apart. Shrapnel flew everywhere as Fox searched for his next _victim_; he smiled as he realized he _had_ become the hunter.

He found his next victim was a Chameleon. As he stalked the Mech the pilot realized he was there so he had to act quickly. He stabbed the Mech in the leg and followed up with a slash to the abdomen. The Mech staggered but wasn't disabled as it fired its lasers point blank. They flashed across Fox's torso, doing little more than melting off some armor.

Fox finished the skirmish by planting a heavy kick to the Chameleon's cockpit and shattering the glass. The shrapnel cut the pilot to ribbons as Fox removed his foot from the Mech. Fox looked around to find that nearly all resistance had been destroyed by the rest of the company. The rest were running into the forest.

Following Cory…

Cory was nearly asleep as the Elementals came closer. As they ran past however, he woke up completely, adrenalin coursing through his veins. He checked his weapons as the first Cavalier unit, a Vedette, came into his LOS. He tracked it with his crosshairs, but moved to the next target when that was behind a few trees.

He waited for Fox's signal, and when it came he quickly closed off the only escape route. He stepped out into the path the Cavaliers had just used before turning on his active censors and letting loose a full thirty missiles from his racks while dancing lasers across one of the Vedettes. The emerald beams of energy slashed armor off the small tank and knocked off a few armor plates.

The missiles hit a few seconds later, slamming into the tank with tremendous force. The tank lifted off the ground a few feet as more missiles detonated across its underside. That area wasn't meant to take damage, and quickly gave way to the explosions; sending shrapnel into the crew compartment but leaving it for salvage.

As he changed targets his Mech shuddered from being hit by a Commando's missiles. The hits blew armor from his chest and rained shrapnel down onto the ground. He decided that would be his next target and hot-cycled his lasers to fire into the Mech's leg. He melted away some armor but nothing major.

The Commando shot its own laser at him, the heavy laser leaving a gash up Cory's arm. As his LRMs reloaded he made a quick lock and fired his complement of missiles. The missiles rained down around the Mech; it apparently had an ECM suit that redirected most of them. Those that hit slammed into the lighter Mech's chest and cracked some armor plating.

Cory was shaken by the return fire from his opponent but his armor held… mostly. A large crack formed in his Ferro glass shield and another in his chest armor. The laser had been hot-cycled to fire and take advantage of the damage caused by the missiles. Cory was fortunate when the emerald beam only glanced his chest as he fired his own lasers.

He had waited for a firm lock on the chest and hoped that the beams would add more pain to the damaged Mech's armor. The lasers burned into armor damaged earlier and while only one beam passed through the crack it was enough for Cory to see he had scratched the reactor at least.

The other pilot was obviously feeling the heat as he stopped hot-cycling his weapons and focused on his missiles. The Commando was sluggish as it ran forward to use its more powerful Streak missiles. Cory moved away as he shot out beam after beam of controlled energy; focusing on the chest he fired his lasers in succession to keep his heat down and get more chances to hit the sweet zone.

He finally managed to get a lucky shot in with his LRMs. They blew in the armor around the crack and allowed one to hit the reactor. It cracked the shielding and threw the Mech into an overheated condition. It slowed to nearly a crawl before it came to a halt; falling onto its face as the pilot turned off his active targeting system, surrendering.

Cory looked around and fired a few beams at an LRM launcher's tracks. They fused together and froze the tank in place. Its turret still worked however and it turned to deliver a massive blow to Cory's legs, leaving the armor more of a memory than material. He returned the missiles, which blew apart the tank's missile pods; they weren't loaded so their was no massive explosion. It was inoperable however, and that was good enough for him.

Suddenly his Mech lurched forward and slammed into the ground, with the forward positioned cockpit digging into the ground and knocking him out. His Mech was shut down by a Tight Stream Electromagnetic Pulse that was fired by one of the surviving infantry who was torn apart by one of the Elementals before he had a chance to take over Cory's Mech.

Following Eric…

As the order went out to spring the trap Eric let loose with his twin PPCs, blowing a Vedette off its tracks and knocking it onto its sides. The crew quickly bailed out but he ignored them; focusing on the Mechs. He took a light hit from a Wasp's medium pulse laser; it barely left a mark on his armor as he returned it ten-fold with his LBX cannon. It tore through what little armor the light Mech had on its shoulder. It ripped apart the joint and tore the arm clean off, dropping it to the ground in a pile of twisted metal.

He waited a little for his PPCs to recharge and fired again. The twin bolts of man-made lightning shot down the slight hill and burned deep holes into the Wasp's chest and remaining arm, his LBX was reloaded a second later. He fired again, this time the shells slamming into the already crippled chest and piercing the reactor. The Mech stumbled as the containment fields tried in vain to hold it together. Soon fire was ripping out through every orifice of the Mech as the reactor exploded in catastrophic failure. For a second it seemed that the fires of hell had risen from within the war machine.

Eric quickly changed targets as his PPCs recharged; locking onto an Archer. His PPCs burned into the Heavy Mech's arm, melting away armor composite. His LBX recycled just a moment later and he triggered it as well, the shell scoring a heavy wound on the Mech's thigh.

The Archer turned quickly to face him; the sign of a well-practiced MechWarrior. The Mech's lasers were brought forward and fired, tracing blackened scars across Eric's legs. He didn't need to worry so much about that, but he did when the pilot triggered his missiles. Forty of the high-explosive warheads shot from the Archer's chest, arching high and followed by streaming trails of smoke.

Eric's Mech wasn't equipped with an anti-missile-system, so he had to weather the storm of explosions that walked blossoms of fire up and down his Mech. At least two of the warheads detonated close to his cockpit, slamming him against his restraints and leaving deep bruises.

His weapons recycled and he triggered them again; the PPCs scored deep wounds into the left leg, while his LBX cannon crushed the lasers in his opponent's arm. Not content, he hot-cycled the PPCs and triggered them quickly. He was lucky; they hit the missile racks and detonated most of the missiles that had been reloaded. The explosions made their way into the ammo bins, cooking off the remaining warheads and blowing out and entire side of the Mech. The CASE system had done its job of preventing a deadly explosion of the reactor.

Still with about half the torso blown out, the Mech had a hard time standing; Eric took advantage of that. He started his Marauder IIC into a run, then activated his jump jets. As the giant Mech lifted off the ground his weapons re-armed. The assault Mech slammed down in front of the still struggling Archer, and knocked it off its unstable footing. The Mech fell and the pilot shut it down; surrendering.

He looked for another target, and found that most of the fighting had died down. Only a few targets remained that were willing to continue fighting. He sighed, he had wanted to do some more fighting on this planet. Now, most likely, they would be leaving.

Following Alison…

Fox called the trap, and she responded like the cat she was. She quickly opened fire on the transports; her lasers burning holes into the side of the vehicle while her Auto cannon sent shrapnel through the compartment, killing those that were hitching a ride on it.

She saw an opportunity to strike at a Wasp and took it. Lasers ruining any armor left on its leg and cannons ripping apart myomer and the knee actuator. She turned her attention to a Marauder. A very large challenge for a medium Mech, but one she was willing to take.

She waited for her heat to go down and triggered her lasers. The beams of energy shot forward and turned armor above the cockpit to slag; her aim had been off. She adjusted quickly and triggered her cannons. The slugs cracked the glass protecting the pilot, but it hadn't been a direct hit so he was only shaken.

He returned the attack with far more firepower. His PPCs shot into the forest as she dodged left, then right as he triggered his Gauss Rifle. She fired again, coming close to the cockpit and rattling the pilot. His next shot was poorly aimed, probably fired randomly to see if she would dodge into the line of fire. She ignored the attempt and decided to try something her Mech was said to excel at; a Death From Above attack.

As she ran at the Cavalier Mech she took a glancing blow to the leg, and ignored it, opening the wings on the back of her Mech for the full effect. She triggered her jump jets and watched as the Mech's computer actually took over, doing calculations on where to land on her opponent. It was flawless, the Mech's clawed foot set down right into the Marauder's head; crushing the pilot instantly.

That was when she decided to take out the infantry that had managed to escape from the burning transports. She hunted them down like a cat hunts mice, only using a single shot to kill them.

About half an hour after her little hunt began she heard Fox call out over the radio. "All units, secure the area for rescue and recovery. Captain; prepare the salvage tracks and send them out… correction, light up and bring the dropships out here."

The Captain didn't respond but Alison knew she had heard.

**End Chapter 13**

Wow. I didn't hit writer's block that time! Holy shit! Ahem… sorry about that. Tell me what you think about this chapter's layout, maybe I'll keep it like this; IE a section of each chapter for each of Fox's lancemates. And if this chapter feels rushed it's because it's chapter _thirteen_; bad luck and evil and… ya. Review responses!

Bienvenido S. Canonizado: Thanks!

Quote time! "There are things that are so serious you can only joke about them" I found this one on a magnet at my Grandma's; I don't know who actually said it though…

Review me!

Let us all remember that fateful day the twin towers fell, and let us all prey for those that lost their loved ones, or their lives. 9/11 is a day that will not be easily forgotten, though it has already faded from the minds of many. Those who wine and bitch that we only stay in Iraq for the oil, need a brush up on their recent history. The terrorists have attacked us; our country, and our people. It is time they paid in blood, the same payment they stole from our people. I applaud President Bush for his actions, and I wish their were more people willing to stand and fight against those who would attack us.

God Bless America, and may our light of freedom continue to shine for all time. G fox.


	14. Chapter 14

**MechWarrior: Shadow Company**

Hello! Welcome to chapter fourteen! On to the chapter! And if my weapons loadout seems unreasonable, let me know… alright?

**Chapter 14**

Following Fox…

"Fox! Wait up!" Fox stopped as he approached his room and turned to find Alison trying to catch up to him.

"Yes?"

She slowed down and stood in front of him, panting slightly. "Fox, I just finished checking out the Brannigans. They don't have any accounts that even remotely have one billion c-bills. Some of them put together do but… I doubt they're going to pay us is what I'm saying."

Fox nodded. "If they don't we'll just have to take the money from them. Militarily, or by hacking their bank accounts."

She nodded and went off to prep her computer for the coming order. Fox stepped into his quarters and removed his helmet. He had been out helping the salvage crews with his Salvage Mech, and after an hour of fighting and another two in the Salvage Mech, he needed a shower. He locked his door before taking it; better to be safe than sorry.

As he put on his civilian clothes he saw his computer was waiting for him with a report from the salvage and recovery unit. He sat down to read. The salvage unit had been able to get back most of the Mechs of the Cavaliers that hadn't been completely destroyed. Thanks to some lucky shots several of the Mechs were in completely working order; the only reason they went down was that the pilots had been killed.

The Company had lost about a lance of warriors, but recovered that with pilots from the Cavaliers who had accepted that they would work for Shadow Company. They even had a few extra pilots now. Total they had recovered seven Mechs and six pilots who had ejected or surrendered. They hadn't been able to find Kerensky though, which annoyed Fox a little.

They had captured several infantry men and a few tank crewmen, Fox figured he would have to find them something to drive eventually. The report said that the Mechs would be fully repaired and ready to fight in about two weeks, three at most. He closed the report and radioed a message to the Brannigans. "We're done. Send us the payment in two days or we will assume you won't be paying. In that case, prepare your defenses; cause we'll be coming for you."

He decided to get some sleep and got comfortable in bed, before drifting off.

The two days came, and went. He even gave them another day just to be polite. But that was it, they weren't paying. The message he got on the fourth day said as much. "I don't care if you come after us, we're ready!" He sighed as he heard this, resigning himself to the fact that they would have to fight them.

He activated the comm. link between him and Alison. "You are clear to proceed, Shadow Cat."

"Yes sir."

He mobilized his command staff, minus Alison, and set up a meeting. Cory was the last to arrive; he was still recovering from the injuries he received in the last battle.

"Alright, we're all here. The Brannigans aren't paying, meaning we're going after them. Either we'll force them to pay us rather than incur more losses, or Alison will hack their accounts and make em pay up that way. Any questions?"

"What do we do about Alison? She's pretty much invincible. Who do we get to fill her role?"

"I've already worked in the fact that she won't be fighting. Anything else?" No one responded. "Cory, you up for this?"

He startled but responded quickly with a nod. Fox decided he would put him in the reinforcements part of the company for now. "Good. Get suited up for battle folks, sound the alarm!" The last part was yelled to the aide at the computer. She quickly typed in the 'all hands to battle stations' command and the alarms started blaring.

Fox dismissed his command staff and set off for the hanger; mostly to check on the status of his Mech. He had ordered the light Gauss Rifle be replaced with a Clan PPC, for more firepower. He also had a Rotary Auto Cannon installed on his arm, along with plenty of ammo. As he arrived the technicians were placing the last sheet of armor on the Griffin; now he called it Kyouun. He also noticed that his Hatamoto was back. Apparently the Cavaliers had salvaged it and used it against the company, who had salvaged it back. It was currently undergoing extreme repairs as the damage was extensive.

Fox hooked into Kyouun's coolant system and powered up. "Captain, move to striking distance of the Brannigan capital." His reply came as the lift off alarm sounded, then the drive rockets fired; lifting the dropship into the air. He patched into the external camera and saw the other dropships lift off as well.

By the time the company was ready to attack, Fox noticed a large force gathered on the plains in front of the capital. The dropships touched down a few clicks away from them and lowered the gantries. The five companies of Shadow Mechs marched down onto the field, followed closely by the four lances of tanks and company of Elementals.

"Alright, I want Alpha Company with the command company. Bravo takes the left flank while Charlie takes right. Delta Company, you're reserve for this _skirmish_." He quickly ordered. The Companies quickly reported to their positions while the Brannigan's forces spread out into a five column line. "Vehicles split up. I want one Shamash per flank scouting. Kelswas, stick with the command unit. Glory Fires, you're right; Challengers left. Elementals front and center; I want you to rip apart or take over anything you can. Bring whatever you capture back to the Dropships and hand it over to the tank crews on station."

As the lines were drawn Fox started forward, followed by the rest of the company. The Brannigan forces closed ranks, ready to withstand the assault. Fox brought his PPC forward and fired a random shot into the crowd, the blue beam of man-made-lightning burning deep into a Komodo's shoulder.

That was the signal for the others to fire. PPCs, lasers, shells, and missiles shot from each force to impact fresh armor on both sides. A Kelswa's twin Gauss Rifles blew a Galleon light tank onto its side; ripping away armor and filling the crew compartment with shrapnel.

Captain Monroe fired blue lightning into a Bulldog tank. The pure energy slagged away a lot of protection from the vehicle, but didn't kill it. It returned fire with its laser, burning a blackened scar across the light Mech's arm. A Glory Fire's missiles detonated across the Bulldog's side and also cracked the reactor. The crew wasn't able to shut it before it detonated in a minor explosion.

Other than that the lines held fairly well; and they pretty much slammed into each other. Fox drove his katana into a Rommel tank and sliced it clean open; it was useless now. He triggered his new cannon to find it had been installed correctly. Flames leapt from the barrel as armor piercing rounds flew from it, tearing into another Bulldog and ripping away valuable armor.

The tank fired its laser into his arm, nearly destroying his new weapon. He fired another few hundred rounds into the tank after his PPC. The pure energy blew a hole into its side while his RAC spread shrapnel throughout the crew compartment.

He changed targets to an Enyo strike tank when the Captain contacted him. "Little busy right now!" He responded quickly.

"Ya I know. But I've been monitoring their comm. Before the battle a bunch of them were talking about wanting better pay. I think if we offer em that, some of em will join us."

"Do it." Was all he said as he ran into the front line's Mech. He left off with a few rounds from his RAC, pummeling the Uziel with armor piercing shells. The medium Mech responded with its PPCs, firing twin beams of lightning into Fox's leg. The Griffin stumbled but stayed up, losing another few hundred rounds into its opponent.

Suddenly two Condors flew up beside Fox and launched their complement of SRMs into the Uziel. The missiles sent blossoms of fire across the Mech, which were closely followed by their PPCs. They slagged away armor from the Mech's shoulder and leg; destroying one of its machinegun arrays.

Disoriented, the pilot tried to regain his Mech's footing and over compensated, falling to the ground. Several infantry men awaited the Mech and broke open its hatch, climbing inside and taking it over; the pilot's dead body dropped from the open hatch as the Mech stood up again.

The Mech quickly performed a salute and turned to fire its PPCs into a nearby Bulldog. The tank flipped over from the force of the blow, and crushed the turret; the crew quickly dropped out of the tank, only to be captured a moment later.

Fox shrugged; he'd seen stranger after all.

Following Cory…

"God my head hurts…" He sighed, his Mech swaying as it had to constantly adjust for his slowed thought patterns. Fox had put him in the reinforcements company for this battle, which was fine for him. He didn't want to go into battle any time soon. "But knowing my luck, just cause I don't want to fight, we'll run into a situation I'll need to."

Following Eric…

He pivoted his Mech to fire his PPCs into a Condor; ripping away the upper deck of the tank. It may have lost its guns, but it still pressed forward; ramming anything it could. He stopped it with a Gauss rifle shell to the driver's seat, splattering him over what remained of his tank.

He was peppered with shots from an Auto Cannon and turned to find an SM1 flying up on his flank. Quickly he brought around his PPCs and returned fire. The assault tank was tough, taking the pure energy and continuing to fire at him. Just as Eric's Gauss Rifle reloaded the tank launched itself to the side, still blasting away chunks of his armor and littering the ground with shards of armor.

Eric cursed as he had to turn his Mech's torso in order to keep the tank in sight, then stopped in amazement as a full squad of battle armored infantry leapt onto the tank and pried the hatch off. One soldier dropped in a hand grenade and slapped the hatch back on, waiting out the explosion.

It came and went, the grenade sending hot metal throughout the crew compartment. The same soldier jumped inside and with the help of a few fellow men, took the tank for themselves. Its IFF code changed to that of a friendly and it sped off towards the dropships.

Eric shrugged, he'd seen stranger in his life, and turned his attention to an M1 Marksman that had been sniping at his allies. His PPCs recharged and he settled his sites over the turret, letting loose everything he had. The PPCs met just before impact, punching through the heavy armor and doing a number on the drive mechanism; that tank wasn't going anywhere soon. The Gauss Rifle had less of an affect, but still did some heavy damage where it hit; a few plates of armor simply popped off from the pressure.

The Marksman turned to return fire, but it never got a chance. A small fire had started at the drive mechanism and slowly made its way to the ammunition chamber. This set off the unused rounds, sending a wave of fire from the chamber through the rest of the tank. The turret blew off from the explosion, launching it into the air a few meters; then it came crashing down on what remained of the tank.

He quickly moved onto the next available target.

Following Alison…

Back at the dropship Alison was pulling double duty. Hacking the Brannigan's accounts, while keeping up to date on the battle and the immediate area. She was using one of her little "talents" as some people called them. This one allowed her to keep one eye trained on the screen she was using to hack the accounts, while the other watched the surveillance footage of the battle.

Every five minutes or so she would switch over to reports that were continuously being filed by the tech officers that made crude repairs and reloaded weapons; then sent the units back out into battle.

She managed to hack one of the biggest of the Brannigan accounts and loaded it all into the company's account; better to let them know they _will_ be paying. That was when she noticed something not right about the battle reports.

Scout vehicles suddenly burst from the tree line, then faded back just a quickly as they had come. At first she thought nothing of it, and concentrated on another account. When a pair of wedges left the trees she took notice, but it was a bit too late to call and warn the others. She did so anyway, yelling "Reinforcements!" into the radio.

Just as she finished the warning the wedges fused together and came through the rest of the lines of the Brannigans, breaking into three prongs as it hit. The Shadow Company lines broke and fragmented as the reinforcements smashed into them. Quickly she contacted Cory. "Cory! Get your ass moving now! Enemy reinforcements just smashed through our lines!"

He didn't respond but she knew he had heard her as their own reserve units slammed into full gear and charged to help the rest, Cory in the lead.

**End Chapter 14**

My Grandma is in the hospital so I don't know if I'll be able to put out the next chapter so fast. And again I implore you to tell me if my weapons loadout is too much, or if you think it's too little. Personally I hope it's too little, that way I'll get more guns! Damn, I just realized I didn't get any reviews last chapter… damn, again. This time I have a quote and a counter quote! The quote is from the MechWarrior Dark Age novel "Ghost Wars", while the counter quote is from me!

First the quote. "The fox's cunning avails him little when the tigress unsheathes her claws."

And just because I am obsessed with foxes I had to come up with a counter quote. "The fox's cunning overcomes any obstacle; if the fox is sufficiently cunning."

Well, what do you think? Review me! I command it!... Please?


	15. Chapter 15

**MechWarrior: Shadow Company**

Hi people! Let's just get to the story alright? (AN: I have changed out the weapons profile to a heavy laser instead of a PPC, just to let you know.)

**Chapter 15**

"Fuck!" Fox ducked Kyouun out of the line of fire of an SM1 as it tried to pepper him with armor piercing shells. The battle had turned when the reinforcements from the other houses arrived. Now Shadow Company was fighting numbers; they were easily outnumbered by three-to-one.

He punched lightning into a Fox armored car, the truck spinning on its cushion of air and sprinting for the safety of its friends. He let it go and pumped a few hundred rounds into a Thorn class light Mech. The light Mech stumbled from the depleted uranium shells but stayed upright, pivoting to fire its PPC at Kyouun.

Fox reacted quickly, bringing his sword up to absorb the energy. He overcompensated though and the lightning burned into valuable armor on his chest. He continued to pump rounds into the lighter Mech, stripping away armor around the chest. His heavy laser recharged and it stripped away the last of the armor around the Mech's reactor. Some of the energy bled through into the reactor, the dampeners activated almost instantly, shutting the war machine down in the blink of an eye.

Fox didn't care, just as long as it wouldn't be firing at him any more. He turned to an Anvil, probably the heaviest Mech on the field. The Mech was taking on two Condors that had gotten separated along with him, a Kelswa, and a few infantry. One Condor got punched with the Mech's pulse lasers but managed to keep itself from spilling air from its cushion. They responded with their PPCs and missiles, burning away armor on its chest while the missiles blossomed fire across the Mech's legs and lower torso.

Fox added his laser to the conflagration, the pure energy burned deep into the Mech's shoulder, but did little more than melt armor. The pilot, seeing him as the biggest threat, punched out with his lasers. Fox brought his sword around and managed to deflect one of the more powerful beams back at his opponent, the others landed in his arm.

He lashed out with his laser again, burning a hole in the Mech's chest which was taken advantage of by the Condor's SRMs. The missiles detonated inside its chest, blowing a hole in the reactor's shielding. Containment fields activated and failed, secondary fields also failed as the explosion ripped through the structure of the heavy machine, using anything it could find for fuel.

The once great war machine fell to the ground with a rumble, now nothing more than a smoking skeleton of what it had been.

Following Eric

The lines had broken but Eric had managed to keep a fairly large group in and around him. It was mostly light and medium tanks with infantry and Mech support. The infantry were a mix of armored and unarmored personnel and were trying to capture a Behemoth and Challenger MBT.

He turned to watch an SM1 skate up behind a Fox armored car and rip away what little protection it held. The fox spun around to bring fresh armor against the tank destroyer, but over did it; instead bringing its cockpit into the line of fire and allowing the driver to be shredded by the tank's main gun. Eric did a quick check and found that the SM1 was the same one he saw be captured by their new allies.

His PPCs leapt from the barrels to burn deep holes into a Phoenix Hawk's arm. The medium Mech didn't even stumble from the fierce blow as it turned to fire its main laser into one of his heat sinks. The sink melted and solidified into a block of useless slag. His heat spiked as he hot-cycled his PPCs and fired his Gauss Rifle to try and bring down the lighter Mech.

Instead of hitting the chest like he had planned, the pilot anticipated his shot and brought up his Mech's arm to absorb the blow. He cursed as he hot-cycled again, which brought the cockpit temperature well into the sauna range. His PPCs burned through the joint of the arm the Phoenix Hawk had been using to defend itself with. The arm fell to the ground in a hunk of twisted metal.

The lighter Mech pilot fired a well-aimed shot into his other main heat sink, creating another useless piece of metal that would do him no good. Eric fired again, this time managing to hit the Phoenix Hawk in the chest and doing some heavy damage, but not piercing into the innards of the Mech. The other pilot hot-cycled his laser and burned a blackened scar into Eric's chest, driving the Mech's heat into the red zone.

Now it hurt to breath it was so hot in the cockpit. The air smelled of ozone as a few electrical systems began shorting out. Eric's heads-up-display started fading in and out as he tried to keep his Mech upright, the gyros working double-time to help him. Shut down alarms blared and he slammed the override button, pumping another Gauss slug into the Mech's chest. It staggered from the blow but stayed up long enough to fire another beam of red light into Eric's chest.

Eric's stabilizing gyros finally gave out under the stress, sending Eric crashing into the ground. He managed to see that same SM1 skate up to the struggling Mech and blast its cannon point-blank into the cockpit. Ferro-Glass shattered as the armor piercing shells tore into the pilot and the command couch.

"Lieutenant Colonel Herald is down! Get some techs out here ASAP!"

Following Cory

"Lieutenant Colonel Culwell! Lieutenant Colonel Herald requires assistance!"

Cory's lasers danced across a Belona light hover tank that had been worrying a Shamash with its gauss rifle. The hovercraft spilled air from its cushion and sank to the ground. The turret still worked however, so he launched some of his missiles at it. The homing systems guided the warheads directly into the turret, turning it into a useless piece of scrap metal. "What kind of assistance?"

"His gyro system gave out sir. He needs a few technicians to at least get it to the point he can move back to the dropships."

"Get a few technicians in a Hasek Combat Vehicle and a heavy escort team. I'll lead." He replied as his lasers chewed into another Belona, the energy turning armor into slag and creating rivers of molten metal that flowed down the side of the tank and dripped to the ground, creating puddles before it solidified.

"Yes sir!" Cory watched as the Wolverine piloted by Captain Daniels turned and called together several units to help with the escort. He managed to get a Lancelot, Rabid Coyote, and the Enforcer III to aide in the escort. Some of the technicians from the Kitsune arrived after a few minutes after they had recalled a Hasek and got on board. A pair of SM1s and three Condors finished out the small force that would push through into the heart of the enemy forces, where Eric had been rendered useless until his gyros were back in working order.

"Listen up and listen good people. Our buddy is down deep in the enemy forces. He's only got a little time before they overwhelm his team and take him out with infantry so we have to get there fast. I want SM1s front and center with two Mechs behind them, Condors take the rear. The Hasek stays in the center of the formation at all costs; we can't afford to lose these guys."

They all replied in the affirmative and the SM1s pushed into the front lines. They let out an extra long pull of their assault class auto cannons into a Chevalier Light Tank. The depleted uranium shells ripped through the light armor of the tank and blew apart the tiny reactor that powered it. The tank disappeared almost instantaneously as the fire from the reactor ate away the remaining armor and structure of it.

Cory's missiles detonated around a Gladius Hovertank, blowing off pieces of armor plating and knocking it off its cushion of air. The power used to hold the hover tank above the ground now worked against it, the air pushing the light vehicle end-over-end in a back-flipping movement, sending it crashing into an Alacorn Mk VI heavy tank and crushing the turret housing the three Gauss Rifles that were its only weapons.

He targeted a Condor with his lasers and lit off the missiles sitting ready in the missile rack. They misfired instantly and detonated inside the rack, blowing it clean off the hovercraft. More lasers danced across the hovercraft's armor from the Hasek, somehow managing to pierce the armor and set off the unused missiles in the ammo bins. The hovertank bulged slightly as the force of the explosions tore apart the innards of the vehicle in a rapid process that killed the crew without a doubt. With one final giant explosion the tank burst open and sent shrapnel into the infantry that had gathered around it for some reason.

He took a few light hits from a Galion tank, but it was quickly silenced by the Rabid Coyote's ATM system. It blew the light tank off its tracks and flipped it a few times, before it crashed down onto the top of the tank.

Cory settled his sights on a Sentinel that had smoke pouring from its chest and sparks flying from its severed right arm. Its only weapon remaining was its main auto cannon that was in extremely bad condition, yet still looked like it could function. His missiles flew in towards the target and blossomed fire across its chest, forming a huge crack in the remaining armor and shutting down the medium Mech.

Another Sentinel emerged from behind the first and let loose with its auto cannon. The shells tore into Cory's leg and forced his Mech to stumble and nearly fall. He managed to keep it upright and dance emerald energy across the Mech's arm, doing little more than some light armor damage. The SM1s skated around for a shot at taking down the Mech, piercing the armor with their assault class auto cannons and causing an ammunition explosion in the chamber that housed the SRM rounds.

The entire right side of the Mech blew outwards in a massive explosion that knocked the Mech to the ground in a twisted heap of metal. To add to that, the reactor failed in another explosion that ripped the remains of the Mech into tiny pieces of scrap metal that could hardly fit in someone's hand.

By this time they had pushed about halfway between Eric's position and where they had started and they had only lost one Condor in the process. Cory's lasers cycled through another round and danced across a Manticore. The vehicle's heavy armor held up under the assault and it turned to return fire, its PPC spitting man-made lightning into Cory's chest. Armor composite flowed from the wound and down the giant war machine like blood.

The Lancelot's lasers burned into the Manticore and were quickly followed by its own PPC. Armor plates fused together from the heat of the lasers, molten metal streamed down the side of the vehicle and dripped into the cracks of its treads, then solidified and froze the tank in place. The gapping hole in the armor was taken advantage of by a Pilum's streak missiles. High explosives warheads slammed into the tank's crippled armor and detonated, shattering what armor remained and tipping the vehicle onto its side for a moment before it crashed back to the ground.

"Just hold on Eric, hold on." Cory groaned, careful of his voice activated microphone.

Following Alison…

She checked the reports more often now and attempted to coordinate a regroup effort. It failed as a Mech with vehicle support stepped in between the two groups and forced the retreating ones to scatter. She finished hacking her third account and drained it of funds, bringing their total to about half of what they were promised.

She had heard the call for support from Eric's team and had sent several units to secure his location, but other then that she wasn't able to do much more. Skimming another report from the tech crews she saw that they were actually doing pretty good. They had only lost about a fourth of the total forces they had acquired.

"Hopefully they'll be able to pull through without to much damage." She whispered as she hacked another account.

**End Chapter 15**

Thank you for reading this chapter. Tell me what you think! Weapons too much? Tell me! I need info from you guys, I don't have access to many MechWarrior sites so I need feedback from people that do! To the quote! I made this one up myself!

"Mountains cannot be concurred; no matter how many times you climb the same one, one wrong move could end your life."

Time for review responses!

To "Gunny" Thanks!

To OgreWolf1: Thank you… Hopefully she'll be out soon. Which Mechs do you think have too little? I went off the weapons listed for the specific variant on my "research website" as I call it… well besides my Griffin. Tell me more!

Review me!


	16. Chapter 16

**MechWarrior: Shadow Company**

Hello! Welcome back! On to the story!

**Chapter 16**

Kyouun's heavy laser burned into a Fortune's side armor, stripping away valuable protection from the tank's body and crew compartment and scaring the crew. It was able to turn the turret around to fire, but the poorly aimed shot only grazed his shoulder pad. "That was too close." Fox whispered.

His Rotary raked across the tank's damaged side armor, knocking a few plates to the ground and damaging several internal systems. Smoke seeped from the holes and the turret stopped tracking him as he moved, signaling it was down for the count.

He took a massive hit from a Morrigu's lasers, which were quickly followed by LRMs. His AMS managed to shoot down most of the missiles before they hit, but those that did cracked his leg armor, threatening his knee actuator. His Kelswa was down and out, the crew killed by a Long Tom shell landing right on top of them. As one of his Condors detonated from a massive hit by a heavy LRM launcher's missiles, he decided to call a massive regroup.

"All Shadow Company personnel! This is Colonel McCloud! Fall back to the following coordinates! Fall back and regroup at all costs! Cover the slower units as they pull out! Move!" His heavy laser burned a hole in a Minion hovercraft, knocking it to the side as he started running for the regroup point. His remaining Condor and infantry followed close behind as he hot-cycled his laser to blast a Scorpion in the treads. The massive heat fused the treads together and jammed the drive system, rendering the thing immoveable.

A pair of Fulcrums skated up to block his run, and took a few hundred rounds and a heavy laser for their trouble. As they fell to the side with several smoking holes in their hides he charged into another Mech. A Falcon stepped out from behind a farm house it had been hiding behind, and brandished its laser. Fox loosed a few hundred rounds into the Mech's chest and shattered a few plates of armor.

The Mech's lasers flashed across his damaged chest armor, melting armor and threatening his reactor. His laser burned deep into the light Mech's leg, shattering its knee joint and allowing him and his allies to escape without losing much speed. A pair of SM1s along with the Uziel formed up with him halfway there, the Mech with several smoking craters in its hide. Fox was surprised it was still functioning with the level of damage it had sustained.

They had an uncontested run to the regrouping point from a quarter of the way there. A large force had already gathered there, but most of them were heavily damaged and smoking from wounds they had taken. "Sir! Eric went down inside there! What are we gonna do?"

"Don't worry soldier, Cory was dispatched with a few lances and a Tech crew to get him back. He'll be fine."

Sounds of alarm rang through the radio. "What's going on!?"

"Fighters!"

Following Cory…

His missiles arched from his launchers to impact around a Patton, shattering armor and cracking the fusion reactor. The crew managed to shut the reactor down before it detonated.

Another Patton lay smoking on its side, a gapping hole in its side armor showed it had been hit by an ATM system. Cory's lasers danced across a Pike's rear, piercing into its crew compartment and turning the inside into a furnace. The crew did not survive, leaving the tank available for salvage. He ignored it, pressing forward with the Hasek in close pursuit.

A Regulator skated out to attack one of his Condors in the rear, but was turned to scrap by the Lancelot's lasers and PPC, knocking it onto its side where the lift fans took care of the rest.

"Incoming!" The Lancelot pilot warned of the bombing run just before it hit. Cory was able to use his jump jets to jump to the side, out of the strafing line. It hadn't been aiming for the Hasek, and he sighed in relief at that.

"Take down those damn fighters!" He yelled to the others. The Lancelot reacted to the order immediately, turning and firing his energy weapons into a retreating Lightning. The fighter rolled from the hit and swerved into a barn house, exploding on impact with the ground and sending the flaming hulk into the home belonging to the farmers.

Cory's missiles leapt from their tubes and arched after a Hellcat II, an old design dating back to the star league. The older model craft was slow from age, an easy target for the much more advanced missiles that had locked onto it. The pilot, for all he was worth, did a good job evading the first half of them; flying low to the ground and causing the missiles to impact the earth. However, they adjusted and crashed in and around the fighter's cockpit; shattering the canopy and obliterating the pilot. The now uncontrolled fighter shot back into the air, colliding with a Corsair and blowing them both out of the sky permanently. He smiled to himself slightly, then returned to the task of air patrol.

They were bogged down about a klick from Eric's location, held up by the fighters. A Dagger swooped down to rake the Lancelot with RAC shells, putting fresh dents into its armor. The Mech responded with its lasers, tearing into the light fighter and ripping away its wing. Wingless, the fighter swerved into a Troika, sending them both down in a blazing fireball.

Cory's missiles corkscrewed into a Corsair's engines, damaging the equipment housed there. The doomed fighter rolled in the sky, the pilot ejected quickly as it approached the ground. However, being so close to the ground, the pilot's parachute didn't fully deploy, and he crashed into the ground at terminal velocity. Bones snapped and shattered, organs turned to liquid, and the man's brain was torn to shreds by the skull fragments bouncing around inside it.

"Glad that wasn't me." Cory whispered, returning to defend the Hasek from a Minion that thought it was up to taking down the heavy combat transport. Just as the Minion turned to a pile of smoking scrap, a new wave of fighters swooped in. The others sighed as they were able to make out what they were.

"LANs! We've got backup boys, now lets kick em' in the pants!" A Phoenix Hawk LAN followed by two Wasps and a Stinger swooped in and raked fire across the enemy fighters. Driven off by the new arrivals, the fighters fell back to regroup.

"Lieutenant Colonel Culwell, get a move on. We'll cover ya from the air." The pilot of the Phoenix Hawk radioed down to him.

"Will do, and thanks for the save! Let's move people!" The small force pushed forward towards Eric. The Enforcer III took a heavy hit from a Main Gauche's main gun. Smoke poured from its wound as it stumbled, but managed to remain standing to return fire at the tank. Its laser and AC turned the light tank's armor to scrap and broke the weapons control. The tank was now useless, but so, more or less, was the Enforcer III. With a gapping hole in its armor, one shot would be all it would take to bring it down.

"Corporal Collins, move behind the Hasek. We can't afford to lose you." The Corporal whined but did as he was told, falling behind the transport.

After another hour of fighting they arrived at Eric's position. All that remained of his force was an SM1, two Condors, three squads of infantry, and a heavily damaged Centurion; its ax lost somewhere on the battlefield. The three SM1s teamed up to threaten the enemy advances, while the four Condors circled around Eric's Mech as the Technicians opened it up to attempt to repair the stabilizing gyros. "Eric, we're here, don't try to move the Mech alright? Eric? You OK?"

One of the technicians looked into the shattered cockpit to find Eric unconscious. After radioing this to Cory he too joined the others trying to repair the gyros. Cory cursed as he radioed the rest of his team. "Listen up, we are staying here until he wakes up, or this battle is over; understood?"

"Sir, yes sir!"

Following Alison…

She emptied her fourth account, bringing them up to about half of their promised paycheck. Fox had done well with his order of fall back at all costs; most of the Shadow Company forces had made it out of enemy territory. She guessed that they would be making a push to get to Eric soon and set up some possible tactics. She just hoped this would end soon. The Brannigans and the other houses were losing a lot of good warriors in this fight. If they could just see that then maybe they would give up.

Sighing, she went back to hacking accounts.

**End Chapter 16**

Sorry for the shortness of this chapter, I just can't write much right now. And now I want some viewer, er… I mean reader response. Those of you who want a battle in the city, review. Those of you who don't, uh… also review! Review responses!

OgreWolf1: Uh… not to sound like I'm arguing, but I did have the Lancelot blast a Manticore tank. But that doesn't matter! As long as you review I'm happy!... Unless it's a flame… then I'll be pissed. Anyway, Thanks!

The quote is… "Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups." I don't know who said it, but damn is that true or what!?

Review me!


	17. Chapter 17

**MechWarrior: Shadow Company**

Hello! And welcome to this chapter! My Grandma is in a nursing home, so she's getting better! YAY! Now that I'm off my mini rant onto the story! (Note I say mini rant. I haven't had a true rant yet… but I'm working on it.)

**Chapter 17**

As the LAN fighters soared by the bulk of Shadow Company Fox tried to think of a way to get Eric out of there. The LANs focused in on the biggest tanks when they weren't fending off the enemy fighters so the ground forces were safe and able to make some crude repairs. The crippled units were pulled off the battlefield by salvage tracks, those that could still move heading back to the dropships to wait out the rest of the fight. "We charge." He said to himself, then realized the rest of the company heard.

"What? We charge?" Captain Monroe voiced her concerns for the rest of the unit. "Sir, we're nearly out of this fight as it is. Why should we charge when we can make a…?"

"Because Eric and Cory are still in there Captain. A famous human military saying is 'leave no man behind.' I have always followed that rule, even when just in a simulator. It is part of a Vulparian's honor code; and I don't intend to break that code." He replied calmly as he checked his systems; making sure his RAC had at least a few more good bursts in it and checking the shielding around his reactor for cracks.

"Alright listen up! I want Mechs up front with heavy tanks as support. Lighter vehicles and infantry take up the rear and provide cover fire. LANs, burn us a path into that clot!"

"Yes, my prince." Fox sighed, he had known this pilot for a long time and he knew better than to argue with him about not calling him prince.

The LANs swept forward ahead of the ground forces in waves; hammering the enemy ground forces with their man-made lightning and high-explosive warheads. A good chunk of enemy forces fell to the LANs as they soared over them to strike at their fighters; which also lost several machines in the first wave alone. As the second wave of LANs hit Fox called out the order to charge.

Demoralized by the LAN strikes the House forces fell back from the Shadow Company assault, pulling back in bits and pieces into the city for a final defense. Several groups of units took a stand, mostly Brannigan forces that didn't get much action in the earlier attacks. Basically all that was left to defend against Shadow Company was a single company of mixed light units that were untrained and basically cannon fodder.

Fox didn't waste any rounds from his nearly depleted RAC on these guys, instead burning through their relatively light armor with his Heavy laser. That alone seemed to scare these amateurs a bit, and when the rest of the company's Mechs and heavy tanks opened fire, they'd had enough. Mostly lights, they were able to pull back into the city quickly.

Fox stopped as he stepped up alongside Cory. "You OK?"

"Ya… my head hurts though. Course, that should be expected for someone who entered a battle with that problem. Eric's out of it completely; passed out when his head slammed against his headrest. According to one of the Techs it'll take a while before he wakes up and is able to pilot his Mech."

"Great… well, at least we took the field. Alison, how ya doin up there?"

"I got about half of our paycheck, then they started counter hacking me. Gotta go, they're trying to take the Dropship's computer systems… again."

"Alright, fall back to the dropships for repair and refit. All salvage personnel recover anything we can use; raw armor, weapons, ammo… anything. Infantry, cover the salvage tracks while they work. I want a lance of SM1s circling the perimeter at all times in pairs." Starting back to the Kitsune the other units did as they were told, splitting up at times and joining together at others.

"Captain Roberts. Could you have a damage report waiting for me when I arrive?"

"Of course fuzz ball." He just sighed; he was too tired to argue about not calling him fuzz ball.

"Thanks."

"Um… Colonel McCloud?"

"Yes? Who is it?"

"Major Jonathan sir; formerly of House Brannigan. Your message said you'd be giving us a pay raise if we joined you, and we did. So…?"

"Ah… I see. Each of you will be tested after we finish on this planet and assigned a paycheck to cover your services here. We'll give you a fair paycheck depending on your skills and you'll be put in one of our companies. Can you handle waiting for your money until that point?"

"I'm sure we could, if you do pay us more than we were receiving under Brannigan rule."

"Very well. Let's get your men a place to stay." He connected to Admiral Jacob and asked the old fox if they had any extra dropships.

"Of course we have dropships Fox! They're all Vulparian heavy assault class, but they should be easily reconfigured for human technology and personnel. I'll have two of em' sent down to meet up with the rest of your units. They should be ready to house units by then."

"Thank you Admiral."

Following Cory

Cory's crippled Mech limped into the main Mech bay; its knee actuator blown nearly to pieces by a heavy gauss shell. He powered down the Ryoken's reactor to the point it couldn't fire its weapons, yet could still move. Climbing down the ladder to reach the ground floor he nodded to Sam. The technician climbed up the ladder and carefully maneuvered the Clan Mech into its bay, the locks clamping shut around the hard points to prevent the Mech from moving too much. The reactor shut down completely as Sam climbed from the hatch and onto the gantry next to it.

Satisfied that his Mech was well taken care of Cory left the Mech bay and went to his quarters to clean up and take a rest. After taking a shower he climbed into bed to try and sooth his pounding head.

Following Alison

She sighed, disconnecting from the Brannigan computer and preventing them from taking over the Kitsune's computer. Growling she slammed her fist on her chair's armrest. "Damn it. I need to train a few more people to hack stuff." She left her quarters where her computer sat to get a bite to eat.

As she entered the mess hall she realized she had left her armor in her room. "Oh well… not like I'll need it here." She grabbed a tray and some fish sticks. "Ah… the best thing this ship serves. It's about time they started serving it again."

She savored her lunch; eating it over an hour period. She met up with Fox afterwards, deciding to help with the repairs for once since she didn't get to help in combat. She donned a pair of gloves and one of those coveralls the techs wore and climbed the ladder to where Fox worked with Sam to get the broken armor plates off Kyouun. "So Fox… what's the damage report? I had to stop checking the battle because of the counter hackers."

He was startled to see her, even more so when he saw what she was wearing. "You come to help?"

"Ya… figured I might as well since I couldn't help that much earlier."

"Good to have your help. Anyway, about fifteen percent destroyed, and seventy five percent crippled. We gained about fifty percent from the guys we talked into joining us, but ninety percent of them are crippled and the rest are heavily damaged. Here, watch out." He warned her as he finished cutting free the current armor plate, she and Sam caught the heavy plate as it fell loose and placed it on the small pile next to them.

"Dang… that bad?"

"Ya. Guess superior training doesn't cover everything." He started cutting off another piece of armor as he spoke.

"At least it kept most of us alive." She countered, bracing herself for the armor plate that was coming.

**End Chapter 17**

Sorry about the shortness of this chap… I just can't write right now. Sorry. But thanks for reading anyway! Review responses!

OgreWolf1: Sorry for nagging you… I was having a bad day. _NO!_ _Must not make excuses for actions!_ Sorry. Anyway… ya, I checked up on all that and it was the 04E model. And thanks for reviewing! I really appreciate your reviews; everyone.

Geminidude1970: Thanks! And to clear up this little controversy I shall explain everything. Ahem… you are thinking of the THE-S variant of the Thorn which is equipped with an LRM 5 rack in the arm and a medium laser under the cockpit. The Mech in this story is the THE-N1 variant; equipped with a PPC in the right arm and a small laser in the left. Hope that cleared things up and thanks for the review!

Tremble Wolf: I just got a bunch of your reviews so I'll answer them in the order I got them. First off, thanks for your review of chapter 8. I'm glad you like it. Review for chapter 7. I'm sorry… I should have said this a long time ago so I'll do it now. All those times I was talking about the Inner Sphere… I actually meant the Republic of the Sphere. Sorry. For those of you who don't follow the MechWarrior DarkAge novels I shall explain about the Republic. Sit down if you're not already cause this could take a while.

Basic background of the Republic; at least this is my interpretation, anyone out there who knows differently please tell me so I can get this all straightened out. Ahem, at the end of the Clan invasion when they had their battle on Tukiad (yes I know I spelled that horribly) a leader emerged from the Inner Sphere named Devlin Stone. He used the forces at his disposal to forge The Republic of the Sphere; an experiment in government basically. Devlin Stone pulled together all planets within one hundred light-years of Terra, either by diplomacy or by combat, to create this great experiment.

He created a regular army, but he also selected from these the best MechWarriors to create the Knight Errants, the Knights, and the Paladins; Knight Errants being the lowest on this in this totem pole and Paladins being second highest only to the Exarch. The Exarch is chosen from the Paladins in a secret meeting. All Paladins are called together and vote for one of them to become the Exarch. (Note there are only eighteen Paladins minus the shadow Paladin) This happens, I think, once every eight years. I could be wrong but that's what I think.

The Exarch is in command of the entire Republic, with the Paladins as his counsel and Knights as their aides. Knights, Knight Errants, and Paladins act as ambassadors for the Exarch; going where he sends them and occasionally heading into combat. And to answer your last question… I think you're talking about Emperor McCloud. He's who I came up with as an alien race's leader. As an alien race, it makes sense that they would be out side the Inner Sphere and therefore, in the current novels, not discovered yet.

Next, thank you for giving me support in my writing! I'll start writing that story and post it when I've finished this one. Next, yes artillery. The other Merc groups might not use it, but I bet house MacGregor does. Next your chapter six review. No, you are not ignorant my friend, just uninformed. I haven't created any Mechs… yet, but I probably will eventually. Chapter 13 review, Thank you! Finally I have found someone who agrees with me! Thanks for chapter ten's review! Damn… that was the longest review I have ever written! And it's finally over. But thank you for reviewing!

RougeBaron: Thanks and… I'm lazy as hell. I think up stuff while I'm at school so I don't have much time to do that. I'll try to come up with different tactics later… at school. But I'll be better able to think up tactics if I have background about the foe I'll be facing… and since I didn't have any of that for the Brannigans, well… you get the point. Thanks for your continued support in this story!

… Damn, now I'm tired. Oh well, I still need to give you a quote. This one's from goodquotes(dot)com. "If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to _buy_ her friends?"

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Bye!


	18. Chapter 18

**MechWarrior: Shadow Company**

Hello again, and I'm glad to see you here. Well… not exactly _see_ you but; you get the point. Anyway, let's get on with the story! I know this is a quick update but I felt the urge to write! Now it really is on to the story!

**Chapter 18**

Fox called together everyone on his command staff the next day. The meeting was scheduled for the crack of dawn, and everyone managed to wake up and get down there on time. They were half asleep but otherwise they were there. Fox figured that with enough coffee they'd be fine and had the strongest coffee the machine could make set up and waiting for them.

"Alright, Fox what's the current combat status?" Cory asked, just now getting caught up to the rest of the staff in terms of numbers. He had slept for well over five hours after the battle and his head had started to calm down; but he was paying for it with getting caught up.

Fox didn't mind; Cory's relief was well worth retelling the numbers again. "Currently we are at forty-seven percent combat strength. I know that sounds bad but imagine what the Brannigans are at. Alison?" He glanced at the feline, signaling her to speak up.

"According to what I've been able to gather they're at twenty eight percent power. With the loss of their reinforcements from the other houses we should be able to wipe the floor with them easily."

"Tell me again… why did they lose their reinforcements?" Cory questioned.

"They felt it was worthless to keep up this fight when they didn't get anything in return for their lost soldiers. I agree with their beliefs that the Brannigans are just greedy bastards that don't want to pay us in cash." Fox answered.

"So instead they pay us in blood…" Alison remarked, trying to keep it low enough that only the closest to her could hear. She didn't like this fighting, but she realized it was necessary. They were a Republic loyal unit fighting under the guise of a Mercenary company. If they were to keep up that image for any amount of time they needed to show the other people that they _would_ be getting paid no matter what.

Fox nodded, silently agreeing with her. Because of his sensitive hearing he had also managed to hear the remark. "This is the Brannigan capital." He started, typing a few commands into the holo-table's keyboard and bringing up a layout of the city. "Orbital scans show the majority of Brannigan forces in the palace district, while the weakest part is the residential area here." He pointed to a glowing section of the holograph that floated above the table with his claw.

"We enter through here, with as little damage to surrounding buildings as possible. There may not be people in there, but I don't want to be responsible for destroying their homes before they return. Short range weapons only people; we can't afford a stray LRM detonating inside a residence that may or may not have civilians in it." He drew a line between the glowing section and the center red-glowing part of the city with his claw. In response the other possible routes lit up between the two points.

"These are the routes we take. We've only got about two makeshift companies now, so we'll have to regroup the remaining units into those two. I've given everyone a card with their company listing. Everyone not involved in this operation will be here, helping out the technicians in the repair bays. Alpha Company will split up here, then mix again here, and split up here. We'll keep this up to confuse enemy spotters. They'll think they did their jobs only to find out we regrouped and split up again to randomize our forces." He marked the locations mentioned and several others with his claw. It was now the others realized he had a wireless marker attached to his claw tip that communicated with the table's computer.

"Bravo Company will do the same on this route. They'll split up around here, and move in bits and pieces around towards the defenders flanks." He again marked the locations with his claw. "Keep in mind there might still be civilians in there, so check your targets and try not to go trigger happy… alright?" The others chuckled slightly at the little joke.

Fox looked at Cory and opened his mouth to speak; but Cory beat him to the mark. "I'll be fine Fox. My head's a lot better now so I think I can do better than I did last fight." Fox nodded and dismissed them, removing the holo-marker and heading to his quarters to don his armor.

Following Alison

After double checking her armor Alison headed down to the Med-bay to check on Eric. The doctor looked up at her as she entered and nodded. "G-day ma'am." He greeted in his Australian accent.

"How is he?"

"Best he can be doing after that kind of trauma. He's got a cracked skull and some minor brain damage; but nothing permanent. If he wakes up in under… two weeks he won't be able to pilot a Mech, but after that it's clear sailing." He replied shortly. She nodded and headed for the Mech bay.

She scaled the three story war machine easily, strapping into her harness and plugging in the coolant system. She stated her passkey and the powerhouse of the Mech roared to life. Her systems read green and she started the Mech forward, taking one careful step at a time. She emerged from the Dropship to find several other Mechs and an assortment of vehicles waiting around in various locations. She checked her HUD and noticed that they belonged to both companies.

She sighed; apparently most of the warriors hadn't been awake at the call to companies order. "Listen up! All Alpha company personnel to the left of the gantry! Bravo company people to the right! Move!" With her orders the small two company force scrambled and formed ranks. She joined her company as Cory made his way down the gantry in Eric's Marauder. All it had needed was new heat sinks and that had been easy enough for the tech crewmen to do over night. As long as the stabilizing gyros remained intact he'd be fine.

Fox emerged last in his still-banged-up-but-otherwise-functioning Griffin. Most of the damage sustained in the last battle had been absorbed by the armor, which was easily replaced. What little structural damage there had been was still there, just supported by fresh armor and a few jury-rigged supports made of the old armor plating.

At seven Fox ordered a roll-call. Everyone checked in and they started moving. Alison discovered that Fox was in charge of her company and Cory was the commander of Bravo Company. The two companies split up at the edges of the city, Bravo Company heading down further into the residential areas.

Alison's Gyrfalcon stalked forward, weapons armed and ready to fire at the twitch of a finger. Her radar was set to passive sensors and they were keeping strict radio silence in order to avoid detection. Fox gave the signal, pointing with his sword at the units he was selecting and then pointing in the direction he wanted them to go. Alison was selected in the first group to split off from the main company; she was in charge of the 'foraging party' as Fox had termed it.

Stepping around the corner she took an SRM in the wing, a light hit to an unneeded utility. Still, she was the first one to take damage, and that pissed her off. She sprinted to the cover of the buildings across the street, stopping almost on a dime and spinning to bring her left arm's weapons within targeting range of her enemies. Even though she couldn't see them the computer sounded a solid tone on one of them and she fired.

Her lasers burned into a Scorpion's side armor and melted the armor over the treads and fused them together. The tank froze in the middle of the street, turning it into a sitting duck for the missiles from a big jess. The warheads were hastily aimed and therefore they hadn't been able to obtain a solid lock. They slammed down and around the light tank, tearing away every shred of armor on the vehicle and ripping up the road it rested on. All that remained of the Scorpion was a smoking crater where it was last located.

A lone infantryman jumped from a building's window on his jump jets. Alison zoomed in on him and fired a single laser into his back. The large laser burned away his torso and head; leaving only his legs and arms in its wake. The bloody stumps of his extremities fell to the ground in the middle of the blackened crater of the Scorpion. She smiled slightly, fangs poking out of her lips slightly. If someone had seen her right then they would have thought she were a demon of some sorts.

After her bought of being evil she returned to killing the infantrymen that had popped out other windows. "So they tried to draw us in with that one man. Smart, but not smart enough." She whispered just low enough her voice activated microphone didn't pick it up.

A Main Gauche emerged from behind a building a few blocks down from her location. The main gun aimed at a Fox armored car that was skating around a small group of infantry and raking them with its mini-gun. Before the light tank could fire Alison hit it with everything she had. Auto Cannons tore into the tank's armor, ripping away the light protection it provided the crew. Her lasers burned through the remaining armor and into the crew compartment, boiling the crew's flesh before killing them.

The fox, its job of taking out the infantry done, skated back behind the buildings for protection. A Cavalry VTOL entered into her line of sight and its missiles leapt from their racks at a group of Shadow company infantry that were taking on another group of Brannigan foot soldiers. The missiles blew apart the group of Cavaliers, scattering their remains across the small battlefield. Blood splattered across the nearest buildings as the missiles chewed up the infantrymen's bodies.

A Partisan AA vehicle rolled up from behind the building and loosed a few hundred rounds into the helicopter. Armor plates shattered and so did the VTOL's canopy. Armor piercing rounds turned the pilot into a slushy of blood, organs, and other assorted tissues. The now pilot-less aircraft hovered in the air for a few moments, then suddenly pivoted directly into a building. A massive fireball erupted from the gapping hole in the building, sending a shower of debris across the street and onto a Minion that had just come around the corner to strike at the Shadow Company warriors. A giant plume of smoke poured from both the destroyed hovercraft and crippled building, sending a calling sign to the other forces in the city that the first battle had been started.

Following Cory

Cory heard the explosion and pivoted the Marauder's torso to look. He saw the black smoke pouring from the residential district Alison was supposed to be going through and started to worry. Then he realized it would be fine; she did have the reflexes to dodge bullets from a supersonic rifle after all. He continued down the edges of the city to the end of the residential district. Now that battle had been declared most of the forces defending his chosen route should be heading for the sight of current contact.

He stepped into the city for the first time, Eric's assault Mech barely able to fit on the narrow street. The Marauder slowed considerably as it tried to maneuver in the tight confines of the city, taking hesitant steps wherever it went. "Damn… I wish I had my Ryoken." He remarked a little too loudly. His microphone picked it up and transmitted it across the open frequency since it wasn't set to any particular one.

About five minutes later two Yellow Jackets and a Chevalier rounded a building. They saw the Marauder and attempted to fire. Cory had been ready for them, pumping a PPC into each Yellow Jacket and a Gauss shell into the Chevalier. The lightly armored targets were disabled by the blasts, and the Yellow Jackets crashed into each other, then fell on top of the Chevalier to create a conflagration in the obviously rigged road.

A wave of fire flooded through the streets that had been soaked with high octane gasoline, burning armor off the Marauder's legs and crippling several vehicles that were tread based. The conflagration bogged down Bravo Company so much that they started to take fire from enemy units.

Cory fired his Gauss rifle at a Pinto attack VTOL, blowing the rotary blade clean off the aircraft and sending it crashing to the ground to add to the conflagration. His heat spiked as he fired his PPC into a Minion hovertank. The man-made lightning burned away the last traces of armor on the light tank's front and destroying the reactor powering the lift fans.

It hurt to breathe, the smell of ozone was everywhere as systems strained to remain active. The gyros threatened to fail again as a Firestarter hit him with flamers, sending his heat up well into the red zone. Quickly he flushed the reactor and gyros with coolant, hopping to bring down the temperature enough so that the next ten seconds wouldn't kill him or the Mech.

After two more coolant flushes he managed to get the Mech into a side street. He had to bury the arms in the building but he managed. That let his support units handle the firefight. He shut down the Marauder in an attempt to aid the cooling of the reactor, his signature falling off radar for the time being. "Hopefully we'll be able to get out of here alive… without losing everyone we have."

**End Chapter 18**

Wow… longest chapter in a while. Oh well, it can't be helped. Review responses!

OgreWolf1: Damn… you gotta admit I got most of it… right? Oh well, thanks! For those of you who don't know what the hell I'm talking about, report to OgreWolf1's chapter 17 review. That goes for you Tremble Wolf; I screwed up in that little explanation. Sorry.

Tremble Wolf: Again, bunch of reviews, same procedure as last chapter. First, thank you. I still worry about her when I write. (Same review) Not to sound snobby but… I've got Vengeance. It was the first MechWarrior game I got. And about being published… that's not possible… ever. Copyright problems you see. And the fact that humans haven't found any other intelligent life at the time this story is supposed to take place; at least not in the MechWarrior universe.

Next review, Sure! I'll tell you if you give me fifty bucks… Kidding! I get all my MechWarrior info from Chaos March BattleTech Archives. Just Google it. Oh, and an SM1 is a hover tank that has a main gun even Assault Mechs are afraid of. It's called a Tank Destroyer for a reason, but I think it should be called a Mech Destroyer for that same reason.

Next, thanks! Yes I'll get Eric out before he gets killed; as you well know by now if you've been paying a scintilla of attention to this story. Yes I know scintilla is a confusing word… it means really small amount basically. Next!

You are quite welcome, but like I said in OgreWolf1's response… read his review and you will know where I screwed up. But thanks for reviewing!

Quote time! I don't know who said this but I know my algebra teacher said it once. "Don't tell me how big the waves are; just bring the ship in." Basically it means 'stop your whining and do your job!'

Review me damn it! Or as my cat is saying "Pet me damn it!" only I want you to review me… no touchy!... Sorry, my medicine is wearing off… I need to go take more now so bye!


	19. End

**MechWarrior: Shadow Company**

Hello! This is the final chapter of this part of the story. It's getting to the point I get confused as to which chapter I'm on. So, tell me if you think I should continue! I'm going to anyway but I want your input! Thank you and enjoy this last chapter of the now named 'prologue' part of the story.

**Chapter19**

Fox ducked around a skyscraper's base to look at the defenses arrayed on the narrow street before him and his part of the company. Alison had checked in and told him to keep moving; they were still being held up by Brannigan defenses in their part of the city.

He thought about going around the small blockade that had formed in their path, then checked his HUD to find that most of the other streets on their planned route were now heavily guarded. That could only mean one thing. "They must have sent a spy in with the rest of the Brannigan forces that joined us. Now they know our plans and they're using them to blackmail us into a trap." He cursed, a slight growl emanating from his chest as he tried to think of a way around this problem. Finally he gave up and asked for some help formulating a new plan on the spot.

"I've got one Colonel." Captain Monroe responded after a few minutes. "We engage them with a small force of long lasting units and when they bring in their reinforcements we hit them with everything we have."

"That's the best thing I've heard so far." He thought it over for a few seconds. "Anyone else…? Alright, we'll go with that. Two Demolishers up front with Mechs behind them. Everyone else I want hidden now!"

The infantry jumped into random buildings with their jump jets, hiding where people would normally be. The tanks hid by blowing their way into buildings and their parking garages, waiting for the order to come out of hiding by turning off their reactors and engines. The Mechs were a little harder to hide though… they finally managed to fit into narrow side streets that pocketed the road.

The Demolishers moved up into position with Captain Monroe and a Lynx behind them for support fire. Assault class auto cannon shells ripped into the barricade's main protection; a Manticore heavy tank that was positioned to block the fire from Shadow Company's forces. The tank survived the first volley and managed to return fire with its missiles and PPC. The warheads slammed down and around the two Demolishers, spraying up fine particles of concrete, rock, and metal armor. The single PPC honed in on the Lynx's arm housing its medium lasers, damaging the mirrors that made the weapons deadly with its incredible heat.

The Demolishers tore through what was left of the tank's armor and blew the reactor to hell. Flames burst from the holes pocketing the side of the tank, blowing off plates of armor as well as the turret. The crew was incinerated by the intense heat, their skin boiling off and then the rest of them being cremated inside the confines of the vehicle before the exterior was melted away as well.

The blockade opened fire on them since their tank was gone. SRMs leapt from infantrymen's launchers, impacting damaged armor on the Demolishers and sending a spray of shrapnel to the ground. One missile was poorly aimed and hit the asphalt road in front of the tanks, sending up a cloud of dust and debris that masked the Shadow Company tanks as they fired their cannons again.

The infantry manning the blockade didn't stand a chance against the tank's main guns. They weren't wearing anything more than light Kevlar vests, and as such the depleted uranium shells tore through them and into those behind them. Body parts fell to the ground, with bloody stumps the only things remaining of what had attached them to the whole. Blood flew from the impacts as bone shattered and organs liquefied before the shells passed completely through and into the next victim.

That happened to be when the reinforcements showed up. A Padilla thundered up and fired its Arrow IV system nearly point blank into the Demolisher on the right. The artillery shell decimated the tank's armor, blowing off the majority of it on impact. The kinetic force from the blast lifted the 80 ton tank off its treads a few feet, then slammed it back down, never to move again. Fox assumed the crew was dead; he didn't want to think of how badly they would be banged up when they came back through to gather the dead.

Captain Monroe fired her PPC into the Padilla's Arrow IV rack, setting off the ammunition that was just finishing reloading. The artillery shells detonated, forcing the vehicle to bulge slightly before it detonated in a massive explosion that a fifty ton fusion reactor would have trouble replicating. Chunks of the craft flew in all directions, one tread snapping around and cutting a huge gash out of a nearby building. That tread destroyed most of the supports in the front of the building, causing it to slowly crash down onto the street in a shower of rubble and debris. The rain of debris caught most of the surviving infantry in its cascade, crushing them under the weight of thousands of pounds of concrete and steel.

Now that there was a barrier protecting Fox's units he called them out of hiding. They emerged from their hiding places to approach the pile of rubble. The Mechs began stepping over it immediately, attempting to get surprise shots at enemy units coming around to find a new blockade where theirs once stood. Captain Monroe's pulse lasers chewed into a group of infantry, burning off what armor they wore and melting their bodies into puddles of mush.

A VV1 Ranger raced around the corner, eager to engage anything at the expense of its practically useless life. Instead it turned the corner to the sight of a pile of rubble in its path. The driver slammed on the vehicle's brakes, attempting to stop before the bone shattering impact. He failed… the light, fast moving vehicle that was technically a tank slammed headlong into the immovable object that lay before it. The light armor shattered on impact, the tank bending and wrapping its body around itself and imploding.

That seemed to cause the incoming units to stop in their tracks. Fox and the others waited for a few seconds that seemed like hours as the signs on their HUDs stayed in a single place. Suddenly about seventy five percent of the enemy forces bailed, turning on their friends and heading full speed into the distance. "What the fuck… why are they running?" Captain Monroe asked quietly.

"I guess they decided they didn't want to die after all." Sergeant Williams said; he piloted the Lynx that had been hit in the first attack on the blockade. He laughed at the thought, then became deadly serious. "We should take advantage of this sir."

"Right. Everyone, move! Head to the palace!"

Following Alison

She turned another infantryman into another smoking crater with blood at the center with her auto cannons, then fired a laser into a VV1 Ranger that was trying to take out her infantry support. The light tank's armor was melted off, and the remaining energy was used to rupture the reactor's shielding. Armor was turned to slag as the fires of the fusion reactor ate everything it could find for fuel. Shrapnel speared the enemy infantry forces that had gathered near the vehicle for some type of protection.

She checked her HUD to find most of her forces had survived the battle, and almost at that exact time she got a radio transmission from Fox. "Shadow Cat, how ya doin over there?"

"Just mopping up these little ones we left for last is all. Why, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, just checking in on you. We're making a push for the palace now. Try and make contact with Black Knight, I can't get through to him." She could hear light weapons fire in the background of the last sentence.

"Will do Samurai. Good luck with that assault." As promised she tried contacting Cory, but to no avail. Beginning to panic she contacted Major Iken, who had also been sent to help the second company. "Commander Cody, do you know what's happened to Black Knight?"

"Ya I know Shadow Cat. He's been shut down by this damn inferno over here! Those damn Brannigans flooded the streets with fuel so that when we shot down that damn VTOL the whole place lit up like a damn fireplace! Now we're struggling to fire and stay alive at the same time!"

"Roger that, I'm on my way. All units follow me." She turned her Gyrfalcon towards Cory's current location; which wasn't anywhere near where he should have been given the time that had elapsed. Worried slightly, she sprinted towards their location, using her Mech's triple strength myomer to speed up her run; after all, Cory was her friend, as well as comrade-in-arms. The only units able to keep up with her were light hovercrafts and some other Mechs equipped with triple strength myomer.

She arrived to find the conflagration still raging and several infantry bodies laying on the ground, armor melted and bodies slowly being turned into ash by the intense heat. She contacted the captains of the two Vulparian dropships that the admiral had sent down last night. "Hey… do you two have anything that could stop a massive raging inferno?" She asked, slightly sarcastic.

"Of course milady Lee. All Vulparian Dropships are equipped to be able to put out fires; that's one of our main jobs back in the Vulparian Empire. We will be at your location in… five minutes tops. Good day milady." Captain Jonathan replied quickly.

"Oh and one more thing. Stop calling me 'milady'! It makes me uneasy."

"Of course mi… ma'am."

"Thank you."

True to his word the two Vulparian dropships soared overhead in well under five minutes. Several bays opened up on the sides of the ships and white foam flowed from them, blanketing the area within range of their effects. The flames died down almost immediately as the foam starved them for oxygen, then flickered off one-by-one.

"Thank you Captain Jonathan!" She yelled to the elderly fox that piloted the first dropship called the Lightning.

"You are quite welcome mila… ma'am." She smiled, he was so used to Vulparian etiquette that he had a hard time adapting to special requests.

She set a foot in the foam to find that it moved away from it. "Excellent. It doesn't effect my traction any."

She noticed a new icon pop up on her HUD that registered as Cory. "Good to see you Shadow Cat! I was starting to think I'd be shut down this whole battle." She heard weapons fire in his transmission. Sounded like two PPCs and a Gauss rifle; Cory's armament.

She smiled as she replied, fangs almost shining with the light reflecting off the foam that covered everything. "Glad I could help out Black Knight, but you should really be thanking Captain Jonathan for this save." She saw the flash and ducked down while moving to the side, just managing to avoid the anti tank missile that was launched at her cockpit. She lit up the unarmored infantryman with her lasers, and noticed that the foam moved in on her legs and seemed to suck the heat straight from the Mech.

"Damn… what is this stuff Captain?" She asked, amazed.

"Couldn't tell you if I knew ma'am." He laughed at his cluelessness.

Following Cory

Thanks to Alison's help he was now able to fight back against the Mech that had found him and had started to pound away at his armor while he couldn't do anything about it. The Wolverine reeled from the hard hitting Marauder's guns, PPCs punching into its shoulder and the Gauss rifle shattering armor around its knee joint.

The medium Mech attempted to return fire with its auto cannon. The armor piercing shells damaged his heavy armor but didn't do anything more than put dents in some armor plates. Cory hot-cycled his PPCs, now realizing what Alison had just found out as well. The man-made lightning burned deep into the lighter Mech's chest, touching the reactor's shielding and damaging it.

The pilot was too stubborn to eject however and hit the manual override button, preventing the Mech from shutting down and saving it from what happened next. As the pilot attempted to fire all his weapons he overloaded the damaged reactor, sending a wave of fire throughout the Mech's innards and burning the pilot alive. Cory swore he heard the unfortunate man cry out in surprise and pain as the fires ate away at his body, turning it into nothing more than a burned, blackened, and boney corpse.

He saluted the dedicated man as what remained of his Mech fell to the ground in a heap of black, twisted metal. He tried to step over the downed Mech and found he couldn't, so he stepped through it. The foot of Eric's assault Mech came crashing down on the Wolverine's arm, then leg as he maneuvered it out of the tiny side street.

As he opened fire on one of the remaining Badgers that was trying to survive the reinforcements that had arrived to help him. The light tank was ripped apart from the pure energy that coursed through it and burned through the armor on the other side, finally coming to the end of its leash by burying into the road and burning away some of the foam that was there.

Several Brannigan units suddenly shut down at about that time, for no apparent reason. "What the fuck?" He heard Major Iken yell.

That was when he heard the order over the general frequency. "All Brannigan forces… stand down. I repeat, stand down. The battle is yours, Colonel McCloud."

Voices came over the company frequency, most of them hollering things like "Good God it's finally over!" and "Finally!".

Cory just sighed, happy the battle was over.

Narrator (AKA some random guy who just shows up to talk. He's the same random guy who introduced this story with that absolutely stupid paragraph that I wish I hadn't written now.)

That, is how Shadow Company got started, and their first major mission. They did get their paycheck, with interest thanks to Fox's taking the royal family hostage, and with it they purchased a large plot of land on Outreach.

On that land they built a training facility, surrounded by a small base that would become Shadow Company's base of operations in the following years. They split up, then numbering only two companies of Mechs with two more of tanks and hundreds of infantrymen, to take jobs across The Republic at the same time. Using this method they were able to bring more money, expand their base, and hire more personnel.

They continued taking somewhat easy jobs, only rarely taking jobs that seemed like they would be difficult. Usually those jobs were for The Republic.

**End Chapter 19 End Final Chapter**

Thank you for reading this final chapter! And thank you for (hopefully) reading all the other chapters! Now, about the sequel. It'll take place at the end of the Clan-Republic armistice that I'll have only be ten years. I know it was really fifteen but that seems too long to have the story continue with the same characters… and I don't plan on having to scrap myself!

Also, I have decided to have reader characters in this next story! So send me Emails telling me about your character and I'll try to keep it as close to what you want them to be.

If you have any questions about the next story or about this story then feel free to Email me… I want your Emails actually. I don't get many good ones except those telling me I've got reviews. I'll try to get the next story started as fast as possible but I'll wait about… a week for those who want your characters in the next story. It is time for review responses.

OgreWolf1: Thank you for all your support and everything! I hope you'll read the next section of this story also!

To all my readers and the like: thank you for reading this story. I hope I've progressed to the point I won't do anything stupid again, but if I do, please tell me! And now I leave you with my all-time favorite quote. I may have used it before, I'm not sure and too damn lazy to check, but here it is anyway. "Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it."

I thank all of you again for your support in this endeavor, and I hope you'll support me in my future writing. Now for the final disclaimer: I do not own MechWarrior, BattleTech, or any property belonging to or mentioned in the aforementioned universes. I do however own the Vulparians, the Blue Diamond, and a few other ships like the Lightning. I own any character I have created from my own head as they are my thoughts. I do not own Alison, Eric, or Cory, nor do I own Fox as I got him from the Star Fox games.

Good bye for now, but I shall see you again in the next story: "Shadow Company: The Return of the Clans" and if you think of a better name for it… please tell me! I'll give you credit!


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